Under Fearless Twilight
by PsychoticPhey
Summary: I'm still a fan of fearless, but have recently come to the conclusion that i no longer like twilight and therefore will not be continuing this thread. Enjoy what there is, but this is the last of it
1. Chapter 1

Ok, so I've been obsessed with these two books lately and figured, what the hell, let's combine them and see what I can come up with. So of course, the obvious-much as I'd like to, I can't lay claim to any of these characters in any way, shape or form unless I end up adding one or two that you haven't read about in the books. Enjoy!

A sickly warm breeze blew Gaia Moores long, blonde hair behind her. Why on earth she had decided to find a place in Forks, Washington she simply couldn't remember. This was the wettest, grayest and gloomiest place she could have found herself.

'But.' She told herself, 'I needed a vacation from my assignments. Especially that last case…' She carefully stored away the line of violently murdered people piling up in her mind. 'No point in lingering on that.' She scolded herself. 'I'm on break. I'll deal with those when I get back to work and can talk to Dr. Lehman again.' She shifted her black bag and started walking down the drive to her car. It was an FBI-provided car and though Gaia never paid much attention to cars, she admitted that she liked having her own transportation.

The streets were fairly empty-as was to be expected in a small town in the early morning. She parked the little black Saturn along the sidewalk and climbed out. The hot, sticky air clung to her lungs like putty and she started to walk down the street, glancing around curiously. 'This place is very quiet.' Gaia yawned. 'Just what I need.' At that moment, the bag strap broke.

'Perfect.' she thought grimly as she set the bag on the damp sidewalk and started fumbling to fix it. She straightened just in time for a large, somewhat fat man to bump into her. He wore a police uniform and Gaia's eyes skipped to his gun. She wondered idly if he'd ever needed to use it. 'Probably not. After all, this is a very tame little town.'

"Excuse me miss." He said as he stopped and stepped back. She hadn't missed that he'd called her miss instead of ma'am. 'Do I really look that young?' She wondered. 'Granted, I'm only 21, but most people say I look positively ancient.' His eyes flicked over her face in a quick, professional manner.

"You're new here." He stated. It wasn't a question.

"Yes." She stated simply, and then rationalized that it wouldn't be the worst idea to be on at least friendly terms with the local law enforcement in case something happened to come up-an occurrence Gaia wished against with all the fibers of her being.

"My name is Gaia Moore. I'm going to be spending a bit of time in Forks." She said pleasantly as she extended her hand. He shook hers. 'Strong grip.' She noted. 'He likes to be in charge. And he's got the calluses of a fisherman. Not much else to do around here I'll bet.'

"I'm Chief Swan. Welcome to our little town." Gaia looked him over once more before nodding politely.

"Thank you."

"So did you come up to visit relatives?" He asked candidly. She paused. 'Stupid Gaia. You should have your story at least somewhat in place.' She mentally kicked herself.

"Not exactly." She responded casually. "I'm here for a little relaxation." He looked at her cockeyed.

"Here in Forks?" He laughed. "Well, of course you're welcome to, but this isn't most peoples' ideal vacationing spot." Gaia thought hard and fast. She'd spotted a fairly large sporting goods store on her way into town and smiled what she hoped was a disarming smile.

"I like to hike and I read in a pamphlet somewhere that this is a wonderful place to do it." The chief grinned.

"Well, you're not wrong there." There was a slight pause. "Are you doing anything now? I could give you the grand tour." Gaia shook her head politely.

"I'm getting an idea of where everything is, but I was wondering, could you tell me what the local restaurants are-especially any fast food joints?"

After all her analyzing, speculating, tracking and ass-kicking, her affinity for food was a high priority. Chief Swan rattled off a few names and their locations-some names she recognized, some she didn't. She wasn't shocked to learn that the Starbucks or the Krispy Kreme corporations hadn't dug into this place yet. It saddened her a fraction, but she smiled anyway. She could go to New York sometime to visit her old haunts, but it wasn't all that pressing.

"And could you tell me where the library is?" She asked when she sensed he was done talking.

"Oh sure. It's just at the end of this block. He pointed in the general direction. She thanked him, then wandered toward it-eager to see what the selection was.

She was disappointed. The library was stocked extremely sparsely and it was all material she had either read before or-in the case of the romance novels and such-wasn't the least bit interested. She meandered around town for a little bit longer-grabbing a surprisingly good doughnut and cup of coffee from a café and found a bench to sit down on. She still wasn't nearly as good as her partner Kim Lau was at analyzing people, but she was finding it much more interesting by the day. As she sat there munching on her doughnut, the town seemed to wake up. People wandered down the street. It was a Saturday, so a number of trucks with fishing poles sticking out the back could be seen zooming past. A few teens wandered out and the shops picked up business. There was remarkably little difference in the way people here moved and acted toward each other-like they'd all had the exact same parents, or upbringing or something.

'Of course, they probably all did.' Gaia deliberated. 'This is likely one of those places where the family physician has treated everyone from the oldest to the youngest of all the other families in the area.' Gaia sipped her coffee and took another bite of the doughnut. A teenage boy walked relatively close to her bench. His face was round and somehow reminded her a little of a cherub. He spotted her sitting there and paused.

'Oh jeez.' She thought, fighting from rolling her eyes. 'I don't need to _talk_ to anyone though.' Too late. The boy came up to the bench, looking at her with a smile and obviously trying to hide his curiosity.

"Hi." He said. "I'm Mike Newton. You look a bit lost." Gaia barely kept the smirk off her face.

"Indeed I am not, but thank you for coming over and trying to help." She responded coolly as she finished the last bite of her doughnut, slugged down the boiling coffee and stood up. She was a bit taller than him and knew that some people found her hard, muscular frame intimidating. Apparently, this boy wasn't an exception.

"Ah." He said quickly. "Well, if you need anything, I'll be working at the Newton sports store at the edge of town." Gaia smiled; glad he was taking the hint.

"Thank you Mike." She replied smoothly. "I'll be sure to do that." She walked off, wondering what to do next.

'I suppose I could always go check out some camping, hiking or fishing gear.' She thought, and then smiled wryly. 'Gaia Moore. Fishing. Oh, that'd be a sight. But maybe…' She seemed to remember something about an Indian reservation nearby. 'They probably have some hiking trails over there. If I didn't need to get any gear…' She hedged for a moment, then shrugged, went to her car and drove off to find the sports gear store. She mentally calculated the things she would need. It was a short list; a bottle of water, a hatchet, two small tarps, matches and some good boots. Wilderness survival had been part of her course training in the FBI and she was glad of it. It meant a lot less frivolous spending on things like this. 'Of course, I could buy more.' She thought happily as she picked up her bags from the counter and headed out. 'But why spoil the adventure?' Her outfit wasn't the most suited for a long hike-jeans and a sweatshirt-but given the icy nights she'd spent on the street in New York and the sleepless nights she'd spent in FBI training, she figured she'd manage.

She was right of course. After a bit of driving trying to find the reservation and a full days walk, she found herself dragging a bit near sundown.

'Better get camp under way.' She thought tiredly. She took the hatchet and cut into the undergrowth-trying to find some relatively dry wood she could use for a fire. It took her longer than she'd expected, but she managed to find some. Before long, she had a healthy flame going. She spread out her black tarps-one on the ground and one above her-the epitome of a makeshift tent. The area around her was so damp, she didn't think much of leaving the fire to find some dinner.

Dark was closing in and she quickly pulled up a few plants whose roots she knew to be edible. A very slight movement sounded next to her. She froze-not in fear, but in anticipation. Her senses were on keen alert for another human or predator. Slowly…ever so slowly, she turned her head to see what it was. The light was dim, but she could make out the figure of a hare. She waited in her crouch-silent as a shadow. The rabbit moved toward her. Apparently it hadn't seen her and Gaia was downwind. She realized-to her sheer luck-she was crouched in a patch of clover. The hare moved closer…closer…closer…Finally, it was just within arms reach. With agonizing slowness, Gaia moved the arm that was behind the hare, inching it toward the animal by the centimeter. Her hand was just above the hare's neck before she made her move. With her lightning-quick reflexes, she grabbed it by the neck and lifted it off the ground. The animal writhed-terror evident in its face. Gaia braced her nerves as she reached up with her free hand. The rabbit screamed just before its neck snapped and it went limp. Gaia murmured an apology to it, but shrugged it off. It wasn't pleasant, but she'd never be able to get anywhere if she didn't have sufficient food tonight and a fat rabbit was exactly what her body would need.

She took it back to the camp, threw some more wood on the flames, and skinned and roasted the rabbit on a makeshift spit. Even with her rudimentary skills, it tasted wonderful to her. The moon was high and full by the time the rain started to fall. It doused her little fire and Gaia kicked dirt over it before crawling under the tarps-more relaxed and content than she'd been in a long time…

She jerked awake. Her dreams had been filled with the images of people she hadn't been able to keep alive, but no matter how often they came, she was accustomed to rationalizing her way out of them-even in sleep. What awoke her was the sound ringing in her ears. It was a deep snarl being wrenched from the depths of the chest of a creature she couldn't name. The snarl continued on for what seemed to be an eternity and she realized that the creature-whatever it was-was circling her tent. After a while, she realized that there was more than one. The sounds were all deep, all primal. A howl a little farther off made her perk up her head. What were these creatures? No animal she'd known had sounded that menacing. The tread of the paws was heavy-almost bear like and her mind raced. 'What sounded like a wolf or dog, but was big as a bear?' She wondered.

Fear had never been with her, so it couldn't impact or desert her, but an overwhelming curiosity had descended. She wanted to know what it was that could cause such a sound. Caution warned her to proceed carefully. She began shifting slowly, careful that the crackle of the plastic tarp didn't betray her presence. Curiosity may have killed the cat, but caution and intuition had managed to keep Gaia alive for some time and she wasn't about to ignore them now. The growling shifted to angry snapping of jaws. Gaia's head pounded as she shifted herself around. Her gut was tight and the adrenaline started flowing in her veins. There wasn't much that would surprise her in her line of work, but every instinct in her was screaming that something was very wrong and that she needed to be ready for anything. She managed to peek her head out of the front of the tarp and froze, stunned beyond all movement or speech at what lay in front of her.

--

Sorry, gonna end there 'cause it's 1 am and I'm wiped. I'll have the next installation up soon. Promise.


	2. Chapter 2

Second installation

Second installation. Sorry it took so long. May is crazy. Hope you enjoy. No, I haven't gotten confirmation on my ownership, so I guess I _still_ don't own any of these characters

Bella awoke slowly. The light filtered in through her window, showing off how gray and dull the morning was. She sat up and stretched, rubbing the last of the sleep from her eyes. Almost of their own accord, they drifted across the bedroom to the rocking chair in the corner. In it sat what appeared to be a statue. The ivory figure sat so unnaturally still that, if she were any less attuned to him, Bella might have skipped over him entirely. As it was, she focused in on his fathomless eyes. Today they were the same color as molten honey. The corners of Edwards' mouth twitched. In one fluid movement too fast to be seen, he was across the room. His arms-bands of steel that could probably crush her truck-enveloped her in a tender embrace. She leaned into his ice cold chest with a sigh.

"You slept well last night." He said in a low tone. She smiled up into his face, her heart stuttering to a standstill and her breath catching in her lungs.

"Of course I did." She nuzzled into his chest-reveling in his scent. He laughed at her tickling nose.

"I'm glad to hear it. I was worried for a while there…" Bella frowned against his chest. "Why?" She asked. It was like him to be concerned for her, but worried as he stood by to watch her sleep? This wasn't like him at all.

"You started talking in your sleep again…" He said quietly. Bella looked up again, but this time her tone was cautious.

"Did I?" She asked, knowing he wouldn't have lied. He nodded, but the playful smile faltered.

"You were talking about danger. That something else was coming." Bella frowned slightly. This didn't sound like something she'd do, but her dreams last night were a blur.

"I don't know…" she replied slowly. "But if you need verification of something like that, ask Alice." Edward nodded-the smile returning.

"You're right. And that's exactly what we're going to do." Bella nodded and leaned back from Edward. He stood up smoothly and she swung her legs out of bed.

"Would you like to go now, or will you wait for me to get ready?" She asked. Edward looked at her with raised eyebrows."

"Which would you prefer?" He asked quietly. Bella gazed back at him wordlessly before moving slowly to press her lips to his jaw.

"Stay." She murmured quietly. He chuckled and gave her a brief hug before moving back to the rocking chair. Bella stood, dressed and headed to the bathroom before breakfast.

'I wonder what that dream was about…' she thought as she poured out some mouthwash into the cap. 'It's not like me to make predictions about things. The present is confusing enough.' She thought of Edward in his perfect glory. How had such an amazing person come to love her? No, not a person. Not even a vampire. He was much, much more than either of those-closer to a god than anyone had a right to be.

She put the capful of mouthwash in her mouth and then suddenly yelped. The vaguely alcoholic rinse had gone over a cut in her mouth. Bella fought through the stinging as she rinsed, then spit out the liquid and opened her mouth to inspect the cut. It felt enormous, but in the mirror, it was pretty small. 'Did I bite my lip when I slept? I've never done that before.'

Back in her room, Edward was looking at a picture of her and her mother. He set it down casually when she walked in, but noticed he looked a little tense.

"Did you go to Alice while I was in the bathroom?" She asked laughing. It wasn't beyond him to go and be back that quickly. Edward smirked.

"No, but this picture-how old were you when it was taken?" Bella took a look at it before answering.

"About 8. It was right outside a park that we used to go to in Phoenix." Edward was quiet for a while and Bella studied his face.

"What are you thinking?" She asked. She hated it when he was quiet like this for a long time. He looked at her momentarily-gauging whether or not to be honest.

"Edward, I thought we were trying to minimize the secrets here." She said-trying to sound stern. He smiled a little.

"I know, I know. I'm just trying to remember what_ I_ was doing at 8 years old." He smiled at her, but his eyes still looked a bit sad.

"Memories of human times are vivid, but at 17 years old even then, it was hard to remember. After all this time…well, the ages of my time as a human tend to blend together." Bella sighed.

"Edward, you wouldn't remember everything about your time even if you were still human. Don't you remember telling me?" She said as she ran her hands up and down his arms. "The human mind is a sieve." He gazed at her for a moment before his easy, lopsided grin spread across his face.

"And yours worse than average. You can't seem to remember how to stand or walk on an almost daily basis." Bella went into an offended pout, pretending to be angry.

"Well, I may not balance well, but at least _my_ girlfriend isn't going off alone to hunt for her breakfast in the cabinet." She stalked off down the stairs. To her intense surprise, Edward didn't follow her. When she got into the kitchen, she didn't see any sign of him. She was halfway across the room when she realized that there was a bowl of cereal on the kitchen table. Charlie didn't eat cereal for breakfast and this hadn't been touched. Edward was standing behind the door, his face a mask, but Bella was looking at her bowl with such a picture of confusion on her face that Edward began to laugh. She glared at him, but the sound of his laughter punctured her false bad mood and, almost against her will, she started laughing too. Edward flicked out the chair across from her and sat down in a lithe, graceful movement-staring intently into her face. Everything was silent except for the click of her spoon against the bowl. Bella stole frequent glances upward-gazing into the golden eyes of the Adonis sitting across from her. Finally she finished and put her bowl away.

Outside, Edward slung her onto his back effortlessly. Not a word had been spoken between them and the tension about Bella's dream was starting to become more and more palpable. Bella locked her hands and feet in a death grip around Edward's neck and waist as the sprinted off through the woods. She kept her eyes closed and her face buried in her arm.

'Will I ever get used to this?' she wondered as Edward glided along the forest floor. 'This is so stupid. I wish I could at least keep my eyes open without being sick.' Scarcely before she'd completed this thought, Edward slowed.

"We're here." He said softly. She slid off his back gracelessly as ever. The shaded yard of the Victorian house rose in front of her and the trees creaked over the unnecessary wraparound porch. Edward turned, helped Bella to her feet and slid an icy cold arm around her waist as he escorted her to the front door.

Esme greeted them as they stepped through into the large, windowed room. Edward strode across and gave his mother a brief hug before motioning for Bella to follow him up the stairs. They padded down the long hall and stopped in front of a large door. Alice's room. He entered without knocking. Alice was sitting on the floor, but her face was screwed up in concentration-her eyes open and distant. A frown furrowed her brow. Edward didn't speak, but went to his sister and crouched down next to her. Her pixie-like features remained frozen in her frown and concentration. After a while, her eyes refocused on the room around her. She spun to look Edward in the eye, but glanced over to look at Bella in the doorway and cleared her throat significantly.

"It was one of the strangest I've ever seen. Not only was it hard to see, but it made absolutely no sense. All I could hear was a strange cracking noise. There was a large grove of trees-somewhere in the mountains…and a girl."

"Girl? What girl? Who was it?" Alice shook her head slowly.

"No one we know. She was very blonde, but she just stood there the whole time…if she did anything else, I couldn't see. It was very hazy." Edward focused hard on his sister. Her face remained unreadable, but Bella got the distinct feeling something was missing.

"Well, I guess that'll do for now. You sure you didn't see anyone we know?" Alice shook her head again.

"No. Just the girl. But I want to tighten security around the border. This doesn't give me a good feeling." Bella shifted her weight. There was something very wrong with this situation-Alice never withheld information like this, and was pretty sure Edward wasn't convinced either. She watched him as he stared at his sister. Alice met his eyes calmly, but nothing shifted between them. The tension in the air rose slightly, but broke when, in one fluid movement, Edward stood up.

"All right then Bella. Let's go. Thank you for the advice Alice. I'll talk to Carlisle." She nodded, then unfolded herself with that unearthly grace and moved to her bookshelf. Edward put his hand on the small of Bella's back and guided her out of the room. When they were in the hall, he turned to her, placed two fingers under her chin and looked into her eyes.

"My room."

When they got there, he flopped-as much as a boy with his fluid motions could-onto his black leather couch. Bella let her eyes wander over his extensive music collection; her eyes slid over the titles, the glimmering cases, the vast rows…

"Edward, what just happened?" She watched him out of the corner of her eye-watched as his smooth features revealed a twitch of…annoyance? No, stronger. Anger. His eyes had taken on a hard quality and Bella felt herself shrinking away at the sight, even out of the corner of her eye.

"Edward…?"

"Bella, she has never done that before. I don't know why, but she decided to withhold something about that vision. I wish I could say what, but she was reciting the Egyptian alphabet backwards when I listened in." There was a long pause. As she watched, Edwards' features softened slowly into his usual serious, but calm demeanor.

"I'm not sure what to do about it at this point, so I think we'll have to let it be." Bella nodded. She didn't know why Alice had withheld this either, but Edward was right-there was nothing they could do to force it out of her.

"I'm going to go speak to Carlisle about tightening security. Would you please stay here? I'll only be a moment." Bella nodded. Faster than she could exhale, she was alone. She wandered over to the black leather couch and reclined. Her eyelids were surprisingly heavy.

'Must be all the secrecy…' She thought as she faded in and out of consciousness.

When she opened her eyes, the room was gone. Instead, she was lying on a patch of dry leaves. The dim light filtered thinly through the treetops, barely grazing the forest floor. It must have been morning because there was a thick mist covering everything. Bella slowly sat up.

'Ok, this is a dream, which means I should be waking up soon…' She waited, but nothing happened. Every sight, sound and smell felt completely and utterly real. There was birdcall around her and she could hear a brook off in the distance. The smell of pine overpowered her nose and she could feel a light breeze caressing her cheeks. She checked and found that she had an unusual amount of control over her own body. She started walking, hoping to find a way out of here.

"Edward! Edward!" She called, wishing she could find him, hoping that he'd appear soon. After a time, she realized that the birdsong had gone quiet and the breeze had picked up to a biting wind. Bella shivered-suddenly afraid. The trees that had been so familiar and inviting were now closing in on her. The cold wind bit at her exposed skin. The brook was quiet now, but she could hear the crash of waves.

'Waves? I'm in the middle of a forest. But if I can hear the ocean, then maybe I'm near the Indian reservation. Maybe Jacob's nearby!' She started walking faster and faster-breaking into a run when she saw a gap in the trees. She stumbled and fell flat on her face at the border of the trees. Bella lifted her head slowly, recognizing the cliff that she went diving off. Edward was standing there, looking at her coldly. She reached out a hand to him, softly calling his name. Her heart was pounding. She tried to stand but it was as if a huge weight was pinning her to the ground. Bella knew what was coming next, but was powerless to stop it. Edward turned and, with his disturbing lithe grace, launched himself off the cliff. The scene blurred before her eyes. Though it was never dark, it was as if she'd fallen asleep a second time.

When she could see clearly again, she was in the same place, but standing on the cliff in Edwards place was a woman she'd never seen before. Her face was somehow blurred and the features were indistinguishable. The only thing clear about her was her long, blonde hair. The air around the woman grew hazy and Bella saw the flickering images of people she didn't know, faces in the mist. The woman began moving forward slowly and the faces became clearer. Bella realized that she recognized a few of the faces. All at once, the woman's face snapped into perspective. She looked back at Bella curiously with her head cocked to one side. An overwhelming sense of absolute terror crashed over Bella and she began to shriek.

"EDWARD! EDWARD! EDWARD!"

"Bella! Bella! Bella!" His voice punctured her dream and she awoke on the black leather couch. The morning light was still streaming through the window, but Bella felt as tired as if she hadn't slept for weeks. The couch was soaked in her sweat and Edward was looking at her with such deep concern, she wanted to hug him for his sake. She reached up and did so, but he pushed her back.

"What happened Bella?" Edward had a strong grip on her shoulders and Bella winced at the pain. He loosened his grip slightly, but still looked at her as though she might have a seizure at any second. She thought about the dream. Already, she had forgotten the woman's face, but the overwhelming sense of fear remained.

"You remember what I said last night? That danger was coming?" Edward nodded slowly and silently. Bella licked her lips. She could feel her hands trembling.

"I was wrong. It's already here."

Third installation coming! I swear it!


	3. Chapter 3

Yep, no ownership. I know, it's sad when fanfiction writers can't get a little bit of credit/payment for using characters they didn't create, personalities they didn't come up with and usually scenes that aren't theirs. Darn.

Gaia stared at a scene from a fantasy novel. The creatures in front of her weren't real. _Couldn't_ be real. It defied all logic…and yet here they were, growling at each other as though they were about to launch an attack on each other any second. Gaia narrowed her eyes. _As long as they don't do any damage to the tent, I don't have a problem with them. As soon as they start interfering with my sleeping arrangements…_ She reached carefully over to her bag-not quite as slowly as she had with the rabbit since the growling was so loud, but slowly enough that it took quite a while. She'd hoped she wouldn't need it, but there was no reason to be stupid. Every FBI agent carried a gun and being in the woods like this, she'd figured on meeting some form of animal she'd need to use it on. _I'd just hoped the animal would be something normal, not something that isn't supposed to exist. Guess bringing this was worth it._ She checked that there were bullets in the gun and closed it again, then turned to look at the creatures.

The light was dim and she could just make out their reflections. _And if I didn't have such good night vision, I'd never be able to see these freaking things_. As it was, she ignored the menacing growls and studied their hulking bodies, looking for a weak spot to fire a shot if necessary. _They look nasty, but I've faced down humans that were much, much more annoying, and probably just as dangerous_. Her thoughts flickered back to some of her nastier cases and over the faces of those she'd lost. _Damnit, Damnit, Damnit! Stop that_! She scolded herself. _Oliver was horrible, but you've moved on!_

At that moment, two of the hulking creatures roared and leapt at each other. The noise was monumental and Gaia felt her eardrums quake. She fought to block out the sound and watched as the two fighting creatures crashed their way through the brush away from her, followed by the others. She was still a little tired, but knew that she'd never rest well until she figured out what these beings were. _Besides, I've spent much worse nights in training. And those nights I spent running after Catherine…_She shook herself again. The betrayal of her old roommate and colleague still hurt, but there was no way she could think about that now. She shook her head. This was supposed to be her vacation.

_Guess I've got myself another case nevertheless_. She checked the air current as she slowly moved out of the tent. 'I don't know what they are, but I'll be damned if I'm caught because of my scent.' She was downwind and looked in the direction they'd run off to. The underbrush was still bent, but the howling and snapping was fading quickly. _Freaking god, could they really be moving that fast?!_ She straightened slowly. _On the other hand, if they're moving that fast, they'll be creating too much noise to hear me._ The woods were pitch-black, but Gaia quickly and painstakingly made note of where her tent was.

_I didn't just blow money on this to lose it all for some freaky monsters._ She thought wryly. The howling was almost inaudible now and she took off in the direction they went. The trees flew at her in the dark. If she hadn't had night vision like an owl, she would've been badly hurt at the speed she was going. Her heart hammered in her chest, her legs ached, her chest was a pit of fire, but those creatures lured her on. The noise they were making was getting louder and louder.

_C'mon_. she goaded herself. _You didn't do all those laps in training for nothing._ Her thoughts briefly flickered to Will laughing, running beside her and she kicked herself mentally. Stop _that. There's no reason for you to be doing that to yourself anymore_. The growling was deafening again and she slowed. There was a small clearing ahead. The moon beat down into it from between the clouds. In that eerie light, she watched the creatures circling each other, snapping their jaws. They each had cuts all over them. The larger of the two-a russet-brown beast-clamped down on the others ear and raked claws like knives across the others back. A chill wind blew through the clearing. But something else changed. Were their outlines shimmering? _No, their fur is definitely getting smoother. And they're shrinking… _Gaia watched, eyes nearly bugging out of their sockets as she watched the creatures shrink down…down…down…until before her stood a small group of well-muscled, naked men. She would've looked away, but her shock was too great. She could still see all the cuts on their bodies, but even as she watched, they shrank until nothing was there but smooth skin. To make her shock even greater, they started laughing a collective, deep-throated laugh that echoed through the clearing. They'd been fighting brutally hard before, and here they were laughing about it.

"Paul, you're not going to beat Jacob. Give it up already." They joked. A dark-haired man, bigger than the others, brought out a satchel and handed out clothes to everyone. Gaia watched, openmouthed as the men laughed and headed out of the clearing. Through her awe, Gaia remembered to trail them. They were much more graceful as humans, but still had a puppyish manner to them. Though it was dark, Gaia could see by the moon that they all had deep tan skin. _Exactly like Native Americans. _She thought. _And unless I miss my mark, there's a tribe near here. This fits perfectly. _They were walking for a while when Gaia realized that none of the men had spoken since the clearing. They weren't looking around at their surroundings, but were nodding and shaking their heads at each other. _As if they're talking. But they aren't saying anything. What on earth could they be doing?_ As the thought flickered across her mind, every man froze and sniffed the air. At the barest of nods from the dark-haired man, they scattered. Gaia froze. This wasn't a normal reaction for people was it? What on earth was going on? She crouched down and followed their progress. They were moving so fast, she could barely see them. As she forced her eyes to follow them, she realized what they were doing. She narrowed her eyes. _Just because they're splitting up doesn't mean they've figured out I'm here. But, that does mean I've got to move…now. _She stayed in her crouch and turned, checking the wind again to see if they could still smell her. There was none and she started to move back the way she'd come in a low crouch.

A heavy hand fell on her shoulder. Before she could turn to deliver a punch, a deep voice spoke.

"Miss, you shouldn't be out here alone at night. It can be pretty dangerous." She turned slowly. The man with his hand on her was enormous-much bigger up close than she'd thought. She could feel the sheer physical power in his hands. _But they're so hot. _She thought to herself. _He feels like he's burning up. This has to be an effect of the transformation. Why doesn't the FBI or CIA have records on this? I looked through them before I came out here to make sure I wasn't going somewhere that would be host to killers and monsters…Although,_ she thought grimly _I wasn't checking for animal or supernatural monsters. Just the human kind. Damn. _She smiled at the man in front of her.

"Thank you for the suggestion. Now please remove your hand." The man seemed to realize it was still there and wrenched it off as if he'd been burned. Gaia debated pointing out the unmerited reaction, but decided against it.

"We'll escort you out of here. It's not safe for hikers to be alone in the woods." The dark-haired man spoke behind the one who'd grabbed her shoulder. Gaia shook her head.

"Thank you for the kind offer gentlemen, but I'll be _just fine_." She slipped in an icy steel tone to her voice and noted that all the men around her looked at the black-haired man in confusion. He nodded slowly.

"All right, if you insist, we'll believe you'll be _just fine_." He said, quoting her own line back to her. _Augh, I __**hate**__ it when people do that. _Gaia wanted to argue, but decided it wasn't worth her time.

"Well thank you for trusting me to myself. Good night." She strode off coolly and started making her way back to her campsite. _Well that was weird. _

It took a good hour as she headed back to her campsite. She hadn't realized how far she'd gone away from it. _Well, that'll happen when you're running and not paying any attention whatsoever to how far you're going…_She kept walking calmly as a sharp crack behind her echoed off the trees, but her mind kicked into high gear. _Shit. They're tailing me. I should've expected this. _She ran through all the traps she'd gone through in training, but all she had with her was her gun. _That should be enough, but I need to coax them into the open and I don't know this terrain. _She stepped a little more slowly to catch the sound of the footfalls behind her to see how close they were. The forest floor was soft and hard to hear, but she gauged the man behind her to be no further than 3 feet.Gaia decided that there was no need to do anything about it unless they did something stupid, like attack her. So, she continued quietly onward until she saw the dim outline of her makeshift tent. She crawled under the tarp, but then, just because she could, she stuck her head out of the front. There was no one in sight, but she laughed under her breath as she called out.

"Good night guys."


	4. Chapter 4

Once again, no, I don't own this

Once again, no, I don't own this. If you haven't figured that out by now, I feel very, very bad for you.

Bella stared back at the molten gold eyes in front of her. They were standing on the smooth wooden boards of Edward's front porch.

"Since Alice won't tell me what was in her vision, our best bet is to try to figure out yours Bella. Do you remember what you dreamed?" Bella hesitated. Did she really want to relay such a horrifying vision to Edward? But here he was looking at her so earnestly…his eyes were pleading with her. 'This must be hard for him. He can normally just look-he doesn't have to ask and fight like the rest of us.' She took a deep breath and plunged herself into memories of the bizarre and disturbing dream-everything from waking up in the middle of the forest to the distorted faces surrounding the unknown blonde girl. When she finished, she finally looked him in the eye again. Edward had a faraway look about him-as though he was remembering something from long ago. After a time, he shook his head slowly.

"This won't do. I now think the only way we're going to solve this is to find this girl-whoever she may be." Bella felt a sickening swoop of fear in her gut-almost a second premonition. She tried to cover it up, but there was no use trying to mask such things from Edward. He paid closer attention to her than was possible for another human. He couldn't read her mind, but could sense her moods better than Bella probably would have believed.

"Bella, you're afraid." It wasn't a question. "Do you think that's a bad idea?" Bella shook her head.  
"No. I don't think it's a bad idea…" She paused for a moment. "But whoever this person is, she scares me." Edward sighed and folded her in his arms. She breathed in his heady scent and lost herself in the glory that was this magnificent being for a short while. Too soon, he pulled away.

"One of these days, you'll stop overestimating my self-control." Bella shook her head.

"You do a wonderful job. So what now?" A hard look came over Edwards eyes.

"Now we hunt."

Edward explained that it would be best to check out the Indian reservation since the dream seemed to start in woods near there. He stopped at Bella's house and waited outside while she made the call.

"Hey Jacob. Do you think you could meet me at the border? I've got a question for you."

"I'll see you there Bella." There was a note of something she couldn't name in his voice...was it fear? Panic? What on earth would make a werewolf fearful or panicky?

"Jake, are you…?"

"I'm fine. I hate to say it, but even though I know you were intending to anyway, bring Edward with you. I need to talk to him." Before she could respond, he'd hung up the phone. 'Well that was bizarre.' She thought glumly. 'And why would he need to talk to Edward? They hate each other…

A little while later, they clambered out of Bella's truck. The ride had been quiet but for the sound of the radio.

"Bella, I'm really glad we got you this radio, but why won't you let us buy you a new car?"

"Edward, I love this truck. There's no way I'm getting rid of it. Besides, have some respect for senior citizen vehicles." He smiled and reached over to stroke her hair, but paused and the smile slid off his face.

Jacob was standing near the tree borderline. They got out, Edward very cautiously. Bella had relayed Jacob's message to him, and he was just as confused as she was. The two males stood a good distance from each other-partially because of the boundary line, and partially because they hated each other so very, very much. Bella stood between them-her back to Edward, but Jacob stared past her.

"The wolves have a problem and if it escalates, it'll become your problem too." Edward narrowed his eyes.

"What kind of problem? I thought we destroyed the dangerous vampires in the area, and we haven't sensed any new ones coming in. So unless one of your pack has decided to break off…" Jacob growled low in his throat at the insinuation. His fury at the jibe was apparent, but he stopped himself suddenly and a strange look came over him as he seemed to put aside his rage.

"We don't think it's quite as dangerous, but it needs watching and the pack can't do it."

"What happened?" asked Edward bluntly. Jacob took a deep breath. It was clear he was having a hard time saying what was necessary. Edward and Bella waited patiently.

"The pack was seen changing." Jacob blurted out suddenly. Edward and Bella froze, but Jacob continued. "At least, we're fairly certain we were seen changing. We don't think she could've been an ordinary hiker-it was too dark for an ordinary one to be walking. But after changing, we were walking back to town and picked up the scent of someone behind us. So we confronted her. She smelled human. Seemed to have a bit of an attitude, but was cordial enough. Thing is, we tailed her back to her camp. She didn't slip or stumble once the whole way back and it took about an hour. There's no way a regular person could've done that unless they were exceptionally familiar with the terrain, but none of us have ever seen her before."

Bella and Edward were both still as statues. This was exactly the kind of thing they'd needed to know about to confirm Bella's dream. At least, the person Jacob was talking about was female. Jacob continued on.

"We still haven't figured out what she was doing so far from her camp, but on our way back, we picked up our own fading scents, so we must've been there earlier. If that was the case though, there should've been no way for her to tail us, we're too fast and we should've heard or smelled her earlier. She knew she was tailed back too because she called out goodnight to us. Sam kept an eye on her all night and followed her back to her car. I don't think she noticed him in the morning. The real problem is, since we don't know who she is, we don't know if we can trust her. We can't confront her because we don't know if she saw us for certain and, the biggest problem at this point is…she crossed the border." Edward inhaled sharply. "That's why we need your help. If she finds out about the Cold Ones, we're both at risk, but we can't watch her." Edward nodded curtly.

"We'll definitely look into it." He looked at Bella significantly. She was silent for a moment before turning to Jacob.

"Jake, Alice seems to have had a premonition about something bad coming to the area. It might be this girl. What can you tell me about her physically?" Jake paused as his eyes wandered off to someplace in the distance, processing the jabbering pack in his head. He looked at her again.

"She was fairly tall, just a little short of 6 foot I think. Blue eyes. By most standards, she looked like a model, but she was dressed like your average tourist minus the camera. She also didn't have an umbrella, which is another point for her not being familiar with the area."

"What color was her hair?" Bella asked. That was the only thing she could really remember from her dream.

"Oh, very blonde." Bella had to control her reaction and out of the corner of her eye, she could see that Edward did too. 'C'mon.' She told herself. 'It's not necessarily the same girl. There are plenty of blonde people in the world. Still…' her thoughts wandered on. The timing was too bizarre. The same night she has a positively hideous dream about a dangerous person coming to Forks, the werewolves are seen by a person fitting the profile in the dream (however vague). She turned slightly to see Edward's reaction, but found him staring at Jacob. 'He must be reading Jacob's mind…' Edward nodded slowly and sighed.

"We'll look for her. I think I can smell her now, but I'll tell the rest of the family." Jacob snorted at the word 'family,' but Edward paid no attention. He looked over to Bella.

"Do you think you'll be alright driving back to your house? I'll be back soon, but I think it would be a good idea to let the family know about this as soon as possible." Bella nodded. A single blink and he was gone. She turned back to Jacob who was scowling in the direction Edward had vanished.

"I don't understand why you insist on hanging around with them Bella. You're so much better than that, and I hate seeing you with him." Bella took a firm stance and tried to sound stern.

"Jake, you're my best friend and this is hard for everyone, but you know my position on this. It's not up for discussion."

"Is our friendship Bella? Because it feels like it's hanging by a thread because of _them_." There was such a note of bitterness in his tone that Bella wanted very little more than to hug him, but held herself back.

"Jake, I'm sorry." With that, she bowed her head a little and turned away toward her truck. She didn't look up as the engine roared to life. The noise covered up the ripping sound as Jacob exploded into his wolf form.

Her house was quiet as Bella stepped across the threshold.

"I'm home." She called. There was no answer. 'Well, dad's not here, but it's the middle of the day. Shouldn't Edward be back by now?' She sighed and went upstairs to grab the dirty clothes and start a load of laundry. As she started the washing machine, she thought idly about the dream. A chill ran down her spine. She'd had vivid, frightening dreams before, but none that made her feel as though she was letting the sands of the hourglass slip through her fingers because she couldn't put the pieces together fast enough. It was scary, but also infuriating. She threw the last shirt in with a vengeance. 'Why? Why does this keep happening? I can't _do_ anything!' She wanted to scream, but knew it wouldn't do any good. A hand on her shoulder made her jump. She whirled expecting Edward, but to her shock, the face looking at her wasn't his.

"Alice!" Bella smiled happily. Alice returned the look readily. "Why are you…?" Alice cut her off.

"Edward is the one who has the pack's memories. The scent would be strongest to him. He came to the house, relayed everything to me and left. He's headed for the woman's house now. He thought it would be a good idea if someone came to check up on you." Bella nodded. 'Of course. He would want to check out this person himself if she's a threat.' She looked at Alice.

"Um…I was wondering; did you see anything else? Since this morning or even in the first vision…?" Alice leveled a look at her that somehow made her think her dream was child's play next to Alice's vision. Before she could voice an apology for doubting her so much, Alice sighed.

"I didn't tell you everything about that vision. This danger-whatever it is-makes me think that we're all in serious trouble. That vision…" She paused. "I didn't want to say it, but it showed me two things. It showed all of us-werewolves and vampires alike-being taken away. We're perfectly capable of taking care of ourselves, you know that. But for some reason, we couldn't get out of that situation. It-it also showed us leaving…without you again. I got the sense we wouldn't be able to come back this time." She paused. Bella didn't know what expression was on her face, but she didn't care. Either way-losing the whole Cullen family _and_ the whole werewolf pack? If not by volunteering, by force? If she hadn't had that dream, if the whole day didn't have such a dangerous and frightening edge to it, if not for this knot in the pit of her stomach and that sensation of time slipping away from her, she'd have thought the idea laughable. As it was…

"It all comes back to that girl…" It was a moment before realizing she'd spoken aloud, but after chancing a glance at Alice, she sighed.

"Alice, I had a vision too…" She relayed the story of her dream to the pixie-like girl before her. When she was done, Alice was so still, Bella almost began to doubt if she was really made of flesh. A long time passed. As the minutes ticked by, Bella wondered what was going on in Alice's head. Finally, she shook her head, breaking her frozen pose.

"Bella, your vision wasn't quite as clear as mine. I don't know what's going on, but I don't care what it takes, we won't leave you again."

Fifth chapter will be up soon everybody! And incidentally, thank you all for your comments and your enthusiastic following! It really does make my day each and every time I get comments and new people reading these stories!


	5. Chapter 5

Hey everybody

Hey everybody! Decided to give you the 5th chapter a little early instead of a month wait like usual…It's surprising how hard it is to sit down and write sometimes. Anyway, to business. Yes, I like cheese pizza. Yes, rainy afternoons with a good novel are amazing. Yes, I own a cat who acts like a dog. NO, I DO NOT OWN THIS YOU MORON!

The dripping of rain on the tarp above her head greeted Gaia's ears in the dim light of the morning. She lay on her back listening to the sound._ It's_ _surprisingly relaxing._ She thought. A spider crawled across the tarp near her. She watched it for a while, and then flicked it off the tarp. Being fearless meant no fear of insects, but that didn't mean she liked the feeling of having them crawl on her skin. On her hands and knees, she crawled outside the tent and stretched

Everything was wet in the forest. The rain trickled down through the trees and dripped on the forest floor. _It's so quiet. I haven't been this far from humanity since…ever. Not that it's a bad thing. Humanity sucks so much so often…_She thought vaguely of the many people that had been victimized by her life and abilities, then carefully pushed them out of her head once again. She'd gotten fairly good at letting her old, negative thoughts slide under the carpet-if she couldn't get rid of them entirely. With a twist, she cracked her back and turned to the tent. It was going to be a messy job packing those back into her bag. She sighed and began untying the top tarp from the trees she'd hung it between, carefully shaking off the excess water. After a short time, her bag was packed. She kicked some wet leaves over the makeshift fire pit, flicked her hood over her head and hoisted the bag over her shoulder. With all the stuff she'd brought, it still only weighed about 30 pounds and with her training, that was next to nothing.

The trails were exceptionally treacherous with the rain. The rocks became slippery, the mud a slide. Roots and uneven ground were each waiting for an opportunity to trip someone or break an ankle. A novice hiker or-as it was for Gaia-a less naturally athletic person wouldn't last fifteen minutes before doing severe damage to themselves. However, because she was Gaia and no one else, her eyes were straight ahead of her and her mind somewhere completely different. The silence of the forest was starting to annoy her. _I mean, you'd think there'd at least be some kind of bird calling or a chipmunk or something. This is strange…_It was an odd feeling, and she'd learned to trust such instincts. Even so, as she looked around her, she could still see nothing. The gun couldn't easily be stowed for hiking and she knew better than to put it out of her reach-even on vacation. So, she'd put the safety on and slid it in the large front pocket of her sweatshirt. As she descended on the trail toward the car, she fingered the handle. _I hate guns. I hate the sound, the way they feel, the smell of the gunpowder, the kickback, their effect…I never stopped. But, I'd be an absolute idiot not to carry one. Why the hell am I so contrary that I pick one of the few jobs that would require me to carry one at all times? Jeez, it's like everything I hate about my life, I absolutely have to put into use on a daily basis. _She shook her head as she reached the parking lot and crossed to the little car. Her original intention had been to walk through the woods back to the town, but remembered part of the freedom of having a car to drive was the responsibility of taking it with you. _It's such a pain. But it's such a useful pile of metal. _She threw her bag in the trunk and fished the keys out of her pocket. The car started with a friendly purr, but as she looked through the soaked windshield, she caught a glimpse of something white in the trees. It vanished quickly, and Gaia shook her head.

_I know I should trust my instincts, but jeez, if it was dangerous, it would've jumped me on the way to the car. Besides, now all I want is a hot cup of coffee. _She pulled out of the parking lot and merged onto the highway.

The rain beat down hard on the windshield. The road was a blur ahead of her-even with her fantastic eyesight and the windshield wipers were going full speed. Apart from the wipers and the tap of rain, there was a noticeable silence. Gaia glanced around. The trees on either side of the road were completely covered in a green moss and it'd been ages since she'd passed anyone. _Am I going the right way? There's something strange about this. Damnit, if I've been going in the completely wrong direction, I'm gonna be so pissed. _Her annoyance was eased when she saw three people-two boys and a girl on the side of the road. None of them had umbrellas. There was only one car there-an ancient truck that looked as though it'd been around for the last World War. Gaia furrowed her brow. It was hard to see, but even in the hazy rain, it was clear that one boy and the girl were so pale, they looked albino. She was moving pretty fast, but chanced a glance in the rearview mirror before the next turn. She nearly slammed on the brakes. The third one was most definitely the russet wolf from last night. There was no mistaking that build. Gaia kept herself in check and continued on, but her mind was reeling. _So, I go camping and run into a pack of werewolves last night. Today, I may have been tailed by one, definitely saw one by the road and he was talking to two people who are too pale to be entirely alive. What the hell is going on here? _

The rest of the drive was uneventful. When she got back to the house, Gaia gave a long sigh. _What did I do with that coffee? _While the coffee was brewing, she fought her way out of her soaked clothes and threw them in the complimentary washing machine, then stepped into the shower. The hot water hit her like a warm hug and her mind flickered to Ed. _Wonder what he's doing now. Hope he hasn't done anything to land him back in a wheelchair…_She rolled her eyes at the thought. _He's older now and understands how much he never wants to get back in a wheelchair. He wouldn't do anything stupid. Still…_She made a mental note to call him and maybe her father later.

A soft click and almost inaudible rustle caused Gaia to freeze. _Fantastic. Burglars on top of everything else. I am so __**pissed**__ right now… _She kept the water running but stepped out and pulled a shirt and pants on. _If I have to start kicking ass, I'd rather not do it completely naked. But where the hell is my gun? _She groaned inwardly-remembering that she left it on the counter in the kitchen. _No hope for it now. I can deal without it. _She pulled her dripping hair out of her eyes. The shirt and pants she was going to wear were completely soaked, but she knew that wouldn't matter soon. _After all, I've dealt with scumbags in the rain. _She silently opened the bathroom door and padded down the hall as quietly as she could-given her training, this was saying a lot, peeked around the corner to the next room and felt her jaw drop cleanly away from the rest of her skull.

The intruder was the pale boy from before on the side of the road. The bigger shock for her was not the coincidence though but how unbelievably amazing he looked up close. _He really should be a model. I mean Sam and Jake were…_But on the thoughts of both Sam and Jake, she sobered up. _Doesn't matter how good-looking he might be. He's in my house and I want him out. _Her jaw couldn't go further than the floor, but it would've hit bedrock in the next moment. He turned to her frowning, looked her full in the eye and spoke.

"I'll be leaving momentarily unless you can clear something up for me." Gaia glared at him.

"This is my house and you will be leaving when I tell you to which is _right_ now." His belligerence pissed her off even more, but it didn't matter now. He was leaving this instant. She crossed the room in a single step and aimed a punch for the center of his chest. To her shock, he was behind her by the time she extended the punch. She whirled, bringing her leg around for a roundhouse kick to his side. He dodged that one too. She could barely see which direction he'd gone, but instinct told her behind her. With a deep breath, she turned her head to see his face. Everything went into slow motion. Gaia knew her body was centered and her mind fully focused. She spun and with speed that surprised even her, her right-handed hook connected with his jaw.

Gaia had had many surprises that day. But the biggest was moments after his face snapped sideways and she retracted her fist for another punch to his stomach. A slight burning sensation extended from her knuckles, up through her hand to her wrist. The burning grew and grew until it raged white-hot pain through her hand. She understood. Most punches hurt, but like the time she'd punched a brick wall when she was 12, some of them were damaging. _Damnit! I broke my hand on his face! I don't have time for this! And what the hell is he made of anyway? Cast iron?! _A scream of pain was bubbling in her stomach, but she shoved it down and aimed for his stomach with her left hand. She was shocked when he extended his hand and caught her fist. She nearly gasped aloud, but managed to keep it in check. His hand was ice-cold, like he'd been holding it in a freezer for hours. His other was holding his face where she'd punched him. He contracted his freezing knuckles around her fist and her brows shot up toward her forehead. She could tell from his arm he was using hardly any effort and yet…the bones and muscles in her hand were screaming for release. A little bit further and he'd break them. She nodded and pulled her hand down toward her side and took a step back to look at him again.

He looked like a teenage boy, but he was paler than death, more attractive than anyone she'd ever known and was strong enough to crush her fist with hardly any effort. She'd better reassess the situation. _I really hate to admit it, but at least he isn't trying to kick the crap out of me right now. _She glanced up at his face and was yet again surprised to see that he was looking at her hands with the same look of confusion before and a hint of something else. _Fear. Yes, definitely fear. I'd recognize that look anywhere. _She spoke up.

"Ok, so I punched you and broke my hand for the effort and all you can do is attempt to crush my hand and frown at me? Couldn't you at least get off my property?" A smile flickered across his face.

"My apologies, but I can't leave yet. I need some information first." Gaia froze. She felt exactly as though she was back in training with agent Malloy barking at them.

"You need to always be prepared. Governmental spies don't care whom they harm and you need to understand that they will be willing to do anything to get information from you. With this in mind, we will be spending the next few days in torture resistance training…" Gaia stared the boy down. She'd hated torture training, but it'd been much easier for her than the rest of the recruits. Not fearing pain was an enormous advantage. This kid wanted information and she wasn't going to give it up easily. But, she'd have to see what he wanted and what he was willing to do to get it. Gaia sighed.

"What do you need?" Once again, she was shocked, but this time, it was because he extended a hand.

"First off, I'd like to apologize for my intrusion in the first place. Secondly, since I did intrude so rudely, I think introductions are in order. My name is Edward Cullen." Gaia frowned. First he breaks into her home, but doesn't do any lasting damage to her himself when she fought him to get him out of her house, and now he wants cordial introductions. _Ah, what the hell. When things get too weird, it's better to go with it and see where it leads you. It's helped me often enough in cases. But I'm going to get to the bottom of this. _She took his hand. His grip was still ice-cold.

"Gaia Moore." She said in as blank a voice as she could manage. He nodded.

"Gaia-goddess of the earth." She held back from rolling her eyes.

"Impressive for a teenage guy." He smiled and she nearly lost her breath. _Good lord. I didn't swoon like this for anybody else. Did I?_

"Well, we do have a school system out here, however remote." He sat down and she wondered at his ability to move so lithely and gracefully without appearing ridiculous. _He moves like a cat. Like…a mountain lion. _She'd seen one once on a mission and wasn't enthused about coming into contact with a guy who so closely resembled one.

"So then Ms. Moore…"

"Gaia, please." She ground her teeth against the pain in her hand. _This had better be over soon. _

"Gaia then. What brings you to Forks?" She stared at him. She had no idea what he was doing here or what he wanted, but she was absolutely positive it wasn't going to be in her benefit. _But, lying is best done when you stay close to the truth._

"I'm here on vacation." He looked at her passively.

"Ah, that's lovely. Is there anything in particular you were thinking of doing while here?" _Well that's certainly none of your business, but what the hell. _

"I hadn't really decided yet. I definitely think I'll take a few days to relax and read, maybe visit Seattle, go fishing…aaand apparently break my hand on the face of an intruder." He cracked another small smile, but quickly resumed frowning at her.

"I see. When did you get into Forks?" That was easily answered and she didn't hesitated long to give him the correct answer.

"Two days ago."

"So then, if you're on vacation, what-…" She cut him off.

"I think I'll ask a few questions now. Starting with, what were you really doing in my house?" He looked a little startled, but, apart from his frown, relaxed into the question.

"I really was doing what I told you I was. I wanted to find out more about you." Gaia frowned.  
"And what reason did you have for wanting to know this?" She watched coolly as Edward paused again. _The next thing he says will be a lie. But god, I wish he'd hurry up. I don't think the leftover adrenaline can hold the pain much longer._  
"My…friend had a pretty nasty dream and thought a newcomer in town might be dangerous. Frankly, you're the only newcomer." Gaia nodded. This would've been logical enough. Except…_a dream? He would break into someone's house based on a dream? Something's not right here. _She decided to throw caution to the wind.

"Your sister's dreams are usually accurate are they?" Edward didn't hesitate for even a moment before nodding. Gaia continued.

"So then, your sister's dreams are accurate, I broke my hand on your face, you easily broke into my house-on which I've triple-checked the security, your hands are ice-cold in the dead of summer, your grip is strong enough to break a car and you're paler than death. What are you? Because you're certainly not normal." She glared at him, daring him to lie to her. He looked at her for what seemed an eternity, weighing his options. At length he stood.

"I think you already know. But I'm going to let you figure that out for yourself." Gaia made a move toward him. No one had spoken so condescendingly to her since she was a teenager herself and she wasn't about to let this kid start. _But is he really a kid? He's right; you do know what he is. So let yourself know._ Edward was still staring at her and Gaia found it wasn't so hard to look at him anymore with those love struck puppy-eyes she'd been pulling earlier.

"I'll be back tomorrow for your answer. In the meantime, don't do anything stupid." Gaia gritted her teeth. This guy was really, really pissing her off, but she didn't want to break her other hand. Strangely enough, while she was thinking about her hand, he glanced down at it and sighed.

"I'd go to the emergency room and get that checked out if I were you. I can give you a ride." Gaia shook her head.

"I may, I may not. I will see you tomorrow." She walked with him to the front door and opened it for him.

"Please don't break into my house again. I will be very displeased." She closed the door halfway, and then remembered something.

"Hey, did you take anyth…" but he was gone. Gaia shook her head and shut the door, heading into the kitchen to find the surgical gauze. The adrenaline she had before was completely gone. She ground her teeth into her lower lip, the copper taste of blood flickered on her tongue. She spat into the sink and set her hand on the table while reaching for a wooden spoon and closing her teeth around the handle. _Thank god for that field surgery class._ Firmly ignoring the pain, she felt around the bones and tendons in her hand. The bones didn't appear to be broken, just out of joint. _This is gonna suck._ She took a firm grip of the back of her hand, bit harder on the spoon and shoved the bones back into place. This time, she couldn't keep the scream back. Gaia saw her vision going hazy and forced herself back into consciousness. The worst of the pain was over, but the hand still ached-an echo of the agony she'd just put herself through. She grabbed some gauze and bound up her hand and wrist. It may not have been broken, but it needed time to heal a little and stop hurting. While she was waiting, she tossed back two aspirin and finally grabbed the cup of coffee she'd wanted so badly before-now cold-and stuck it in the microwave. As the microwave dinged and she added four sugars and some cream to it, Gaia couldn't stop reviewing everything that had happened that whole morning; her deductive skills she'd gotten in the FBI were playing no small part either.

_Ok, so why was he talking to that boy from the reservation on the road? There was only one car-that beat-up old truck, but a truck cab has only two seats in it. Which would mean one of them would've run there-most likely the boy from the reservation. But that's…really far. Why would anyone do that? Even if he hadn't, they were standing in the middle of a downpour without umbrellas. The only time people would do that would be if there was something wrong with the car or they were discussing something serious. Edward said his friend thought I was dangerous. Did they really fear me so much that they needed to discuss it with a pack of wolves? Jeez. _She took a long drag of the coffee and let its sweet milkiness scald her throat. The aspirin was starting to take a small effect. The edge was gone from the pain at the very least. She glanced down at the bandage, willing it to heal her wrist faster._ It really did feel like I was punching a brick wall. But I couldn't have been expected to know his face would feel like that, and more to the point, why the hell did his hands feel so cold? It was worse than having my hand enveloped and crushed by a container of ice. _She shook her head. That actually had been a method of torture on one of her missions. The bastards took a block of ice and enveloped her hand in it. She hadn't liked it much-though the discomfort wasn't much compared with the thought of losing her hand. She'd ended up using her super-strength and knocked them all out with it._ But a human hand shouldn't feel like a block of ice. Only the living dead could feel like that…_But it was with that thought she remembered all the classic novels she'd read in her childhood about the living dead. Being cold as ice-at least between feedings was a common thread between all of them. _The living dead? Come on, you can come up with better than that Gaia …_But the unearthly howls and the cracking of shape-change from the night before enveloped her mind. She stared down into her coffee and watched the liquid swirl around the cup. _Well, if werewolves can be real, why not? But talking together? I thought they were mortal enemies, and vamps shouldn't be able to come out in the daytime, or was it sunlight…? Good freaking god, why am I even thinking about this? _She drained her coffee and put it in the sink. _Well, if he's going to be here tomorrow, I might as well find a good bookstore in Seattle today, since the reading material in this town is so badly lacking. I should have time to make it today, if my car doesn't break down or I get jumped by the werewolves. _She idly wondered if werewolves were as hard to punch as Edward as she searched for her keys since they weren't on the hook. _This is absolutely ridiculous. I leave work to relax, lose my keys and my first day of vacation, I run into werewolves. _Her thoughts drifted over to what had just happened and the boy she'd just met.

_And the second day, I come across a very belligerent, trespassing, latently polite and exceptionally good looking guy… _She found the keys on the counter next to the coffee-maker, grabbed her wallet and slammed the front door behind her.

…_Who also happens to be a vampire. What is the deal with my life?! _


	6. Chapter 6

Ah, don't own the characters, or the setting

Ah, don't own the characters, or the setting. I do own the plotline. Yay for me.

Bella hugged Alice tightly.

"Thank you. I know you can't promise that you're never going to leave, but thank you for saying that you won't leave without me again." Alice returned the hug, and then pushed Bella away.

"I'll be upstairs if you need anything. I want to see what's taking Edward so long." Bella nodded and turned back to the washing machine. As she pulled one of her dads' shirts right-side out, she too wondered what Edward was doing. 'It's taking him forever. Maybe this woman was more dangerous than we credited her for.' It was as soon as she thought this that she felt icy hands around her waist. She turned. There he was, that magnificent Adonis staring back at her through golden eyes.

"Bella…" His voice was softer and richer than velvet. She nearly swooned, but in her usual tracing of his face, she noticed something. A dark mark spread along his normally perfect white jaw.

"Edward! What happened?!" She reached up to touch his face, but he pulled away and looked again deep into her eyes.

"I think we need to discuss this with the whole family. Come on." He motioned for her to follow him upstairs and with a jerk-if you could call it that-of his head, Alice joined them at the back door. Her eyes flickered to his jaw, but she said nothing-likely on an unseen gesture from Edward. He easily swung Bella onto his back and then they were running. Bella decided to close her eyes this time. She had no real desire to watch the trees whipping unnaturally fast past them. Alice moved just a few paces behind them; Edward was the fastest by far, but Alice didn't have too much of a problem keeping up with her older brother. When they reached the large Victorian house, Bella managed to slide somewhat gracefully off Edward's back-only to trip on a root two steps later. He caught her laughing.

"Bella, what am I going to do with you? I don't know if you missed a few balance lessons when you were learning to walk, but it's been plaguing you ever since." She stuck her tongue out at him.

"Hey, we can't all move like dancers." He reached out to stroke her hair. Alice cleared her throat and Edward pulled back.

"Right. C'mon, let's get this going." They strode into the open family room and waited. Carlisle came in from the kitchen. At Bella's questioning look, he smiled.

"I took the day off from work. After Edward told me about Alice's vision, I figured we might need to assess the situation before I went in." A moment later, Esme walked in the room. Bella never did get used to that feeling of pure unadulterated love that poured from the woman. She looked at Bella with her large chocolate eyes.

"Do you know what's going on yet?" Bella shook her head.

"Edward is going to fill us all in at the same time." Both Esme and Carlisle turned to look at Edward at the same time and both started when they saw his jaw, but at a look from him, they kept their peace. Bella turned and saw that Jasper had appeared at the door along with Emmett. They were on the wrong side to see Edward's jaw. A moment later, Rosalie walked through the front door, shut it and leaned quietly against the wall. Her eyes narrowed at the sight of her brother's face, but said nothing as well. All eyes were on Edward and he walked to the front of the room.

"I know I told everybody about Alice's vision-we may be in some sort of danger. I think I've found the person her vision was talking about. She was camping last night and likely saw the wolves change. They spoke with her and she displayed no fear of them. According to the wolves, she moves as well in the dark as a nocturnal creature." The family was enraptured. Bella had never been in a room so full of people and have it be so deathly still. Edward continued.

"It was most likely I'd find out about her at her residence. I'd gotten her scent from the wolves and tracked her. I knew she was home when I visited. Such a visit has never been discovered before, but somehow, she knew I was there. I was looking for identification and anything else I could find on her. She knows how to move extremely silently, but I heard her behind me. She told me to leave-understandably enough. I wanted information, but my refusal seemed to have the opposite effect. She fought me." Every being in the room gave a small start. Emmett spoke.

"I'm sorry, she _fought_ you? Edward, a human fighting any one of us is preposterous." Edward shook his head.

"Not this one. I got this-" he turned his head so Emmett and Jasper could see his jaw. "-from a right hook she landed. It seems to have broken her hand." The whole room stared at him as though they'd never seen him before. Emmett and Rosalie spoke simultaneously. Rosalie let Emmett go first.

"A human landed a punch on a vampire in full self-defense? But that's-that's not possible."

"I thought so too, but she did. I would've completely agreed with you before, and would still be agreeing with you at this moment, but my jaw simply says otherwise." Rosalie spoke.

"She's not a werewolf?" Edward shook his head again.

"No. She didn't smell like either a werewolf or a vampire. She's human through and through." Bella looked at him quizzically.

"You were there kind of a long time. What else happened?" He frowned.

"I need you all to understand this right now. The instant I set foot in her house, I knew something was strange about her. Bella, you know you're the only person whose mind I cannot read." Bella nodded. He took a deep breath.

"With this girl-woman, whoever she may be, whatever she may be, I can't fully read her mind." The room at whole stared at him. He continued.

"It's like listening to a badly tuned radio. With you Bella, it's a blank nothing. With her, I get static. A few words here and there and some distorted images, but nothing is completely clear. And it comes and goes. When I first felt her in the room, she wanted me out, but was thinking of two men. I didn't get faces on them, but I got two names; Sam and Jake. Does anyone recognize them?" Everyone shook their heads. Edward shrugged.

"She asked me to get out and I refused until she told me some things about herself. That's when she lost it. I dodged a punch and a kick-she's fast. Not quite supernaturally, but top-line in terms of human speed. I was getting a blank read on her mind when she spun with the right hook. After breaking her hand, she tried to start with the left. I had to stop her before she damaged herself." The room was dead silent again. Rosalie had moved off the wall and was staring at him in wonder. Alice, Esme and Carlisle looked as though they'd been given a strange new candy to try and didn't know what to make of it while Emmett and Bella looked positively murderous. Jasper was looking at Bella with some concern. Carlisle spoke softly, but with a dangerous edge to his voice.

"So she felt your skin." Edward bent his head.

"It looked as though she was prepared to break every bone in her body before letting me stay. My read on her gets clearer the closer I am. When I grabbed her fist, the read came in crystal clear. She was surprised at my strength and knew to back down. I got a really bizarre memory from her-her hand was encased in ice, but it vanished quickly. When I asked her for information about herself, she'd decided to lie about a few things. I can understand why-me being an intruder and all. I've got a pretty good grasp on what she did and didn't lie about. Her name is Gaia Moore. She came in two days ago for a vacation. The state of the house told me the truth of this almost as much as her thoughts did. I'm not sure if she was lying about her plans for it, but I don't think she had much reason to since she was telling the truth about the vacation part. She's very cheeky, but didn't seem outright harmful. Unfortunately for us all, I listened in on her thoughts when I left. She's extremely intelligent with good deduction skills. She knows what we are and about the werewolves. I think she dealt more damage to her hand when I left because I heard her scream. Carlisle, keep an eye out for a strange blonde female at the clinic with a broken right hand." Carlisle nodded. "I didn't stay much longer after that. In the meantime, I think we should have a watch on her at all times-or at least until tomorrow. I'll take the first watch. There's something strange about her-stranger than just being able to land a punch and damage a vampire, or me not reading her mind. The next time I see her, I want you-Jasper to come with me. I think your ability might come into play."

"Very well." He replied. "Though I'm not sure what you expect me to find."

"I'm not entirely sure myself." said Edward. "But I have a hunch."

"Edward." Bella's voice was small. When he looked at her, she was staring at him with large eyes. There were no readable signs on her face and she asked her next question blankly.

"How long will this shift be?" He looked at her, infuriated at his inability to read her.

"A few hours, no more." To everyone's surprise, Jasper moved across the room and whispered in Bella's ear before returning to his original position. Edward looked on in utter confusion, but it suddenly dawned on him.

"Ah, that's about it. Jasper, I think we should take a car this time and park it somewhat away from her house. She'll notice a car and possibly us if we get too close, but as long as we can sense her, it'll be ok. Could you please go warm it up?" Jasper glanced at Bella and nodded. Before Bella could believe it, the room was clear and she was staring at Edward. He'd looked so animated, so enraptured by this girl he could only half-read and he'd volunteered so quickly to take the first shift…she couldn't help it. Her sorrow and jealousy reared while her own sense of self-confidence hit the floor. How could she compare to this girl she'd never even met? The image of the cliff and Edward looking at her disgustedly popped back into her mind. With Jasper gone, she felt everything full-force. But here was Edward, lifting her in his arms and moving over to the couch. He sat down and laid her across his lap before stroking her hair.

"Bella…Bella. You know this girl can't replace you-whether she damages me once or a thousand times. Her blood doesn't call to me as yours does either. She holds no allure for me. I love you. I adore you. You are the one I choose, for now, for a lifetime and for all time." Bella sighed.

"I know Edward. I really do. It's hard though, and I hate the idea of you being gone even for a few hours on patrol." She remembered the chase they'd gone through with both James and Victoria-the hours she'd spent waiting, hoping Edward would be all right. Now she didn't have to worry about his physical safety. Just her emotional well-being. Edward leaned in. Bella felt her heart beating a mile a minute and suddenly freeze in her chest as he kissed her lightly on the forehead. Would she ever get over that reaction to him? 'God, I hope not.' She smiled and stood up. Edward followed suit and they went out to the garage. A large silver car purred in the driveway. Edward opened the rear door for Bella. She climbed in and he folded himself neatly in the front passenger seat. The car was roomy and the dark leather smelled richly of oil and pine. Jasper smiled in the driver's seat and flicked the pine-shaped ornament on the rearview window.

"They're cheesy, but they work well." He put the car in drive. Before she knew it, Bella was back at her house. Edward walked her to her front porch and pulled her into a tight embrace.

"It'll be a few hours. We'll be ok. Then I'll come back and sit in your room." Bella nodded and Edward cupped her chin with his icy hand. The chill sent pleasant shivers down Bella's spine. 'I don't think I'm ever going to get used to any of the magnificent things about this boy…' She thought. Her heart began to race again as he leaned in and stopped again as he pressed his soft, velvet lips against hers. She was in Eden. Too soon he pulled back, panting a little like she was.

"This is so ridiculously hard. Ah, Bella. I'll see you in a little bit." She blinked and he was in the car. She heard it start and watched them speed out of her driveway. With a sigh, she turned to the house, resigned. 'Dinner's not going to make itself and dad can't cook whatsoever…'

A short car ride later, Jasper and Edward were near Gaia's house. They sniffed the air and froze. Jasper turned to Edward.

"Are you sure she's still there?" Edward took a deep draught of air then growled.

"She's gone." He pushed his head out of the car and took in a few gulps of air, then glared along the road.

"She's driving out of town. It's not to Forks or the reservation. It has to be to Seattle-if she's on vacation, it's the most logical thing to do. Drive." Jasper nodded and depressed the gas pedal.

A few hours later, Edward and Jasper were in the midst of downtown Seattle. Edward scented the air while Jasper kept half an eye on the road.

"There!" Edward said. Jasper looked at the girl crossing the intersection in front of the car. She was slouched in a hooded sweatshirt and jeans.

"You're positive?" Edward nodded.

"Look at her right hand." Jasper took another look at her.

"It's bound up, but she doesn't look like it's bothering her anymore. Can she heal like the wolves?" Edward shook his head.

"I don't think so, but I don't know for sure." Jasper watched her across the intersection and onto the sidewalk.

"She's…quite good-looking isn't she?" Jasper said quietly. Edward nodded. Jasper watched her for a moment before speaking again. "Her read is pretty normal. She's curious-as anybody would be in a new city. We'll have to tail her from the car for a while." He cruised about half a block away and parked the car. They watched as Gaia went into a small bookshop. They reclined in the seats. It would be a long stakeout and she was just human after all.

She was in the store for a long time. When she came out, she was carrying an enormous stack of books. Edward and Jasper peered at the names printed on the spines. They varied in every subject imaginable-from sailing, to calligraphy to cooking. There were a few in code-breaking, some in different languages and a great number of classics. Edward was surprised. At the bottom of the stack-the first one she would've picked up was Little Women. Though the stack was huge and looked quite heavy, she carried it easily.

"She's carrying all those with a broken hand?!" Jasper said wonderingly 'How is that possible?' thought Edward morosely. 'If she can break it on me, can she heal it quickly? Or is she simply really adept at ignoring pain?'

She was heading toward them and stopped a few cars away. She'd parked her black Saturn on the sidewalk and was piling the books in the trunk. For a moment, she paused and looked at two books. Her back was to them and they couldn't see what they were. She suddenly dropped them and shook her head. With a firm slam, she closed the trunk and headed back to the shop. Edward and Jasper looked on amazed.

"How many of those do you think she'll actually read?" Jasper turned to Edward. Edward shook his head.

"She's paying for them, so probably all of them, but I have no idea how long her vacation is, so I can't say if she'll do it while on it or later. You know, it seems I have to be closer than usual to get a read on her, but when she was piling them into the trunk, she was thinking about a guy named Ed-it wasn't me. Something about a wheelchair. And when she was holding up those two books, all that I got was a flicker about mom and dad." Jasper nodded.

"That sort of makes sense. Which did she think of first?"

"Ed, then father, then mother." Jasper frowned.

"She was happy thinking about Ed. Probably a boyfriend or friend. Dad was a little strange. Pleased, but tainted with some frustration and anger. They probably fought a lot. Mom was last you said?" Edward gave his assent. "Her mother is dead. Has to be. When she thought of her, she was extremely sad-with the kind of depth that only comes with permanence." They both looked off toward the bookstore, then down to the clock on the dashboard. 'Poor kid. It's going to be a while before she comes back out.' He was right. It took another few hours before she came out of the store holding another pile, bigger-if that was possible-than the first. The spines had the same variety of subjects as the last one, but there were many more in foreign languages. Jasper turned to Edward.

"Does she speak all those, or is she trying to learn them." Edward narrowed his eyes at her.

"I can't tell. But I see Arabic, Russian, and French in there for certain." Jasper glanced at Edward, then back at the stack in Gaia's hands as she started to shove them into her trunk.

"You said she was intelligent…" Edward turned to his brother.

"Would I lie or understate that?" Jasper shook his head, not so much in denial as wonder.

"Apparently not."

Dusk was approaching. Gaia slammed the trunk shut a second time. It was full to brimming with books. She pulled a slim black wallet out of her back pocket and counted what was inside before looking around her and setting off at a brisk pace down the sidewalk. Edward and Jasper exchanged a look before getting out of the car. There was no need to be driving past her when they could walk. At the next intersection, she took a right. 'Most likely heading for the boardwalk.' Edward thought. He was right. Gaia turned down the walk and started down it-sniffing all the while. 'What on earth is she doing? It's like she's tracking…but humans can't do that. Although…' He remembered being in the nurses' office and finding out why Bella hated blood so much. She'd told him that it was the scent she hated. When he told her that she shouldn't be able to smell that, she said she could and had described the smell of blood so perfectly, Edward was left with absolutely no doubt in his mind. He took a look at the blonde figure in front of them and realized she'd stopped at one of the shops. 'It's a Krispy Kreme! Is there no end to the surprises in this girl?' He maintained a safe distance from her and since his eyesight was so good, he had no problem keeping an eye on her from quite a distance-about 200 meters. She turned away from the stand with a box of doughnuts in her hand and headed down the boardwalk again. The next time she paused, it was in front of an ice cream stand. She bought a cone and walked away lapping at it. Her next stop was a smoothie stand. After that, she wandered over to an outdoor bench and sat down, munching on the cone and chugging the smoothie. She was looking out over the bay with a curious expression on her face. Jasper turned to Edward with a smile on his face.

"Peaceful. Though she does eat a lot for such a small person." They crept in closer so Edward could get a better read on her thoughts.

"She's wondering when the last time she could do something like this was."

"There's a tinge of remorse in there." Jasper agreed. "Go on."

"She's wishing Ed was here. Definitely an old friend. Sam is out of the picture."

"Yes, she feels bad, but he's not dead, so I think there must have been some damage there."

"And she wishes that Oliver had learned from his mistakes and met the same fate as Sam, Ed, Mary, Heather, Tom and Katia…There are two others in there. Yes, Jake and Will. I think. That read is so fuzzy, I can barely make out the names. Whatever it is, she's pushing it down. I can't tell what Oliver did." He glanced over at Jasper who had literally taken a step back and was looking at Gaia with a mixture of revulsion, pity and empathy.

"There's…there's a lot of hatred in there. A lot of fury. And a huge amount of sorrow…deep too. I-I don't know for certain, but I think a good part of those people are dead. And…" He furrowed his brows. "Yes, she's feeling guilty, so she must think she played a part in the damage that was done, but wishes she hadn't. I'm glad you brought me along. She's a fascinating study, but Bella and Alice were completely right in their dreams. If everything I can read is true, this girl is exceptionally dangerous." Edward bowed his head. The mention of Bella made him long to be with her now. He'd said a few hours, but it had been more than a few at this point.

"What should we do about her?" Jasper kept his eyes focused on Gaia.

"I don't know. I think we need to know more about her. Like who all those people are and what happened to them. Or whether we should be worried that she knows about us."

"I agree."

They backed off and stood there silently, watching her from their distance as she scarfed the rest of the ice cream, flew through the doughnuts and washed everything down with the smoothie.

"She eats like she's in the military." Jasper commented. Edward made no reply. 'How is it that she isn't even remotely paying attention to the glances people-especially the guys, are giving her while she's sitting there? In jeans and a sweatshirt, she's getting more looks and whistles than any of the other scantily-clad girls combined, but she doesn't care whatsoever. Is she used to the attention, or has she ever cared?' Her thoughts were vague again to him, but he could see, even through the static, that her mind was miles away. 'In New York. That must be her home town'…Edward mused. The light from the sunset was fading and the street lamps came on. All around her were couples slow walking along the boardwalk as though they had all the time in the world. Edward watched them idly and another pang of longing came over him. He missed Bella. Jasper glanced his way, but said nothing. He knew better than to point out his family's emotions-the same way Edward courteously didn't read their thoughts. After a long, long time, Gaia picked up the boxes and dumped them in a garbage can. She was heading their way, but Edward put out a hand to signal Jasper he didn't want to move back.

"I know she's coming, but I want a better look at her thoughts again." Jasper conceded and they waited for her to come closer. A cool breeze stole over the bay and blew Gaia's scent over the air. Edward sniffed and restrained the craving, but Jasper froze.

"Edward." He said in a low voice that screamed effort in every letter. "Edward, I think this just got a little harder." Edward understood. Their diet of exclusively animals was hardest for Jasper, but he was strong and would fight it.

"Move upwind if you have to." Jasper agreed and told Edward to read his thoughts since they wouldn't be able to speak. Gaia was across the street and Edward closed his eyes to focus in on her. She seemed to be in a pretty blank state of mind. But wait…

'Serial killers?' Edward thought. 'Are you serious Gaia? Serial killers? He struggled to watch as she perused some old thoughts on Mary. 'So, she was an addict? I can identify…and Jake…oh!' He dropped his grasp on her head. 'So Jake is dead.' He tuned back into the cacophony of voices in his head. There were a lot of people around and their thoughts rang like bees in a hive to him. It was hard to handle and he focused in on Jasper's thoughts.

'Edward, she's feeling moody and a little depressed. I'm getting the feeling the last bit of her life was hard for her.' Edward tuned back into Gaia as best he could. She turned the corner and was out of sight, when he got her thoughts back. The night was fully dark now and when he got a hold of her thoughts again, they rang loud and clear for the first time.

'Son-of-a-bitch, I am so sick of these rat-bastards trying to rape me!' Edward reeled in shock and sprinted to the corner. Jasper was soon beside him and they screeched to a halt in their tracks at the scene before them.

The little blonde girl was surrounded on three sides by hulking men. Edward growled low in his throat at their thoughts. These men were exceptionally dangerous. They'd killed before and the things they were planning to do to Gaia…It made him sick. Between the three of them, there was a knife and a gun. He took a step forward to help, but Jasper put out a hand. Edward looked at him in shock.

"If we move, she'll know we were tracking her. It'll completely blow us and then where will we be?"

"Jasper, if we don't do anything, she'll be killed."

"I know Edward, but she's dangerous to us. If she's killed…"

"The blood will be on our hands and you won't be able to resist the smell once it's spilled." Edward looked at his brother incredulously and Jasper bowed his head-embarrassed. They turned to look at the men again. Gaia was backing up and Jasper and Edward prepared to spring when they both froze. Gaia had moved into action and they couldn't believe their eyes. This small girl had exploded into the air with a spinning roundhouse kick that slammed her foot into their heads. These men were huge and it would take more than that to bring them down, but every one of them was caught off-guard by the pain. One of them threw a punch at her and, as if it was the easiest thing in the world, she caught his fist and flipped him on his back. For the time being, the air was knocked out of him and he couldn't breathe or move. She used that time to face one of the others who had drawn his knife. Before he could move or do anything with it, she'd locked his arm, taken the knife and broken his wrist. He yelped higher than a puppy and advanced on her. Gaia ducked and, with a fluid movement, grabbed the wrist of his other arm and rammed her forearm through his elbow. A loud scream of pain echoed through the street as he realized both his arms were useless. He backed away from her. The man she'd knocked the air out of was up and leveled another punch at her, and again, she flipped him on his back, but this time, she dropped a knee onto his chest. He gasped and choked, but she wasn't looking at him any more. The third man had drawn his gun and had the muzzle pointed straight at her. He stared at her with a smile on his face. Edward and Jasper moved forward again, but before even they had time to take a few steps, a shot rang out in the dark silence of the night and the two vampires watched in horror as the girl they were watching dropped.

I know it's mean to end it there, but I'm a jerk like that. Next chapter soon!


	7. Chapter 7

Ahh, next installation

Ahh, next installation. Noownershipnoownershipnoownership Noownershipnoownershipnoownership Noownershipnoownershipnoownership Noownershipnoownershipnoownership Noownershipnoownershipnoownership Noownershipnoownershipnoownership Noownershipnoownershipnoownership

"So that's what happened?" Carlisle asked sharply. Edward and Jasper nodded mutely looking into their father's scanning eyes.

"This is…not good. I trust you knew what to do with her?"

"We did." Do you think you could take a look at her? Carlisle sighed.

"Yes."

Without another word, he vanished with inhuman speed and came back a few moments later with a puzzled expression on his face.

"Go get everyone. Bella too."

Bella had been finishing the laundry. Dinner was over, Charlie had gone to bed and the house had been cleaned till it sparkled. She could never sit still when she was worrying about Edward, but while her hands lazily played with the fabric of a pair of Charlie's work pants, her mind raced. 'Edward did leave in an awful hurry. Why was he so eager to volunteer for this? I know he loves me and wouldn't betray me, but I just don't understand…' She sighed and folded Charlie's pants along the creases, turning her thoughts to her dad. When he'd come home, he found her in a somewhat moody state.

"Bella, what's wrong?" She'd turned to him with a smile.

"Nothing. I just can't believe how frustrated I am. The water for dinner is taking forever to boil. I think we might have to check the burner." It was a thin excuse, but Charlie bought it since he was never anywhere near the stove.

"I'll have someone take a look at it." Bella smiled wider.

"Thanks dad." He grunted and went in the next room, but called back.

"You know, there's a new hiker in town. Said she was taking a vacation. Looks to be about your age. Have you seen her?" Bella froze. 'A new hiker on vacation?' Bella cleared her throat.

"No dad, I haven't been into town today." Charlie grunted.

"Really pretty blonde. Kinda reminded me of your mother." Bella frowned. 'Why would he bring up mom?' She'd turned back to the pot which finally boiled and started with dinner.

Bella dragged herself out of her reverie. 'Edward should've been back by now…' With a firm pat, she set the pants on top of a large pile of clothes and carried it upstairs. 'A few hours…I have absolutely no idea where he is or how to find him. It's been ages-I know how fast he can run-and how well he can track. He really should've changed posts with someone. Unless…' Her stomach plummeted as she remembered her vision. 'He couldn't…wouldn't have left. They couldn't all have just been taken like that could they?!' Her heart raced and her breath started coming shorter. She could feel herself panicking and didn't know how to stop it. At that moment, a hand on her shoulder nearly made her leap out of her skin. She whirled to find herself face-to-face with her Adonis of a boyfriend.

"Edward!" She flung her arms around him in as tight a hug as she could manage. Edward chuckled.

"Miss me much?" Bella just hugged him tighter.

"Bella, something's happened and everyone is going back to the house. Is Charlie asleep?" Bella nodded and he swung her up on his back.

When everyone had assembled in the garage, they looked at the girl in the backseat of the car. She was pale and far too still to be sleeping.

"What do we do now?" asked Alice.

"We wait" replied Carlisle.

"So then why did everyone have to come here?" Rosalie asked-annoyed. "I mean, that dishwasher isn't going to fix itself.

"Because you all need to understand why this girl is here right now and what happened to put her here." Edward and Jasper spoke and explained what had happened in Seattle-starting with the bookshop and ending with the fight. By the end of their narrative, the room was full of statues.

"Do we really have to keep her alive?" asked Rosalie silkily. "I mean, if we're in so much danger and it all comes back to her, it wouldn't seem like a very good idea to let her live."

"Rosalie!" snapped Alice. "That's a horrible thing to suggest. We don't know that she's the _cause_ of it, we just know that it all comes back to her, which means that she might be the only clue we've got as to what it is." Bella spoke quietly.

"She's very muscular. Just lying there, she looks very peaceful, but very tired even now. Look at the circles under her eyes." The room at large was silent for a while.

"Bella…" Edward said slowly. "She's still dangerous to us. And the way she fought…" He trailed off. Bella glanced back at him. 'Is he awed by her? She fought well and did him damage. Does it go beyond her looks?' She stared at the girl in the car. 'She is impressive, but he didn't mention anything in her thoughts about her being attracted to him. How could any girl not be attracted to Edward?' She felt herself becoming more awed by the girl before her until she wasn't sure if she was really looking at a person or simply a derailed deity. Edward touched her shoulder.

"Well, that's all we gathered to explain. Would you like to go home now?" Bella shook her head.

"I know nothing is being helped by my being here, but somehow, I prefer it to going home." Edward looked at her curiously, but not as though he disagreed with her decision.

"All right, let's go in."

As they turned toward the door, a groan came from behind them. In a flash, Rosalie, Emmett and Esme were gone. Bella turned to Edward.

"Should I stay?" Edward paused a moment.

"I think you better. I have a feeling we're all going to be laying our cards on the table soon." Alice nodded. They watched as Gaia rubbed her eyes, muttering to herself.

"Damnit, I'm so sick of this crap…one little surge and wham…" She looked around. As soon as she registered her surroundings, she sat up quickly. Carlisle was there to push her back down.

"Careful, you've been out for a while", but Gaia shook her head.

"It's nothing new." She sat up again. Carlisle looked at her strangely, but removed his hand.

"How did I end up here?" Gaia barked. Everyone was taken aback, but regained their footing quickly.

"I think we should explain fully." Edward said and nodded to Alice and Bella who each in turn explained about their dreams. Alice had to pass hers off as a dream because Gaia didn't need too much information right away. All the while, she looked at them with a kind of incredulous annoyance. When they'd finished, she spoke with a bit of hesitation.

"So…by me coming here…you think you're in danger? And that's why you followed me?"

"That's the basic gist of it." Gaia looked…what was it? It wasn't annoyed, it wasn't frustrated. It went far beyond anger. She looked…murderous. Bella looked to Edward and nearly reeled in shock. He was glancing around the room as though looking for an escape. His eyes were crazed and there was something in his face that made Bella think of a whipped dog-cringing and painful. She reached out and laid a hand on his ice-cold arm. Behind him, she noticed Jasper fighting with something. It was only a moment or two-but it felt like ages until she could feel the atmosphere become calmer. Edward's arm muscles gradually loosened under Bella's hand, but she could tell he wasn't completely relaxed. She glanced toward Jasper again, but he seemed to be focusing hard on keeping the room at the level of calm it was at. Gaia spoke after a time.

"All right, I can understand that. But why would you do all this based on two dreams?" She looked at them-daring them to lie to her and every person hesitated. Edward was the one to speak.

"I was going to talk with you in the morning about this, and technically, it is morning-albeit early. But I asked you before-do you know what we are?" Gaia took everyone under that dim light in with a long look before saying slowly.

"It'll sound crazy, but if I'm right, it'll still make sense." She took one more look at the chiseled, perfect faces before her before speaking.

"You're Vampires."

…There was a long, long silence. They sat in the silence, staring at each other and assessing the other party. Bella was looking with some curiosity and trepidation at the girl in the car. She looked bigger now that she was awake and moving around. Finally, Alice spoke.

"That's true. Though, you should know, we don't drink human blood." Gaia looked at her sharply.

"Really? That legend is false?" Alice sighed.

"Unfortunately, no, but our particular family decided that it wasn't right to treat humans like cattle. Bella here," she gestured to the slim, pale girl beside her "is fully human." Gaia's gaze was pulled to Bella and the two girls stared at each other-blonde to black.

Bella was surprised to find that while Gaia was certainly just as beautiful as any model, there was no air of arrogance or snobbishness like in most pretty girls. 'Like Lauren…' She thought grimly. 'But it's not too surprising. She dresses to detract attention. In fact, she's got a very self-possessed feel-not arrogant, but confident and very relaxed. I think she'd be very level-headed in a hectic situation.' Alice cleared her throat to speak again.

"You might remember that Edward is very strong…" Gaia nodded, still looking at Bella.

"Well, all vampires are exceptionally strong-just like we're all pale. But some of us have…other abilities." Gaia's gaze whipped away from Bella to focus like a laser on Alice.

"Such as reading the future?" Alice sighed.

"Yes." Gaia was quiet for a moment. Bella studied her quietly. 'Wonder what she's thinking about.' She glanced toward Edward, but he had his brow furrowed in concentration. 'I can't even tell if he can get a read on her or not. This has got to be awful for him.' Her thoughts went to the internet connection on her ancient computer. 'It's one thing to have no connection whatsoever, it's quite another to have a connection that shorts out randomly.' Gaia spoke again.

"So, do you all have unique abilities?" Alice shook her head.

"All but two. Would someone please get everyone else?" Carlisle nodded and vanished out of the room. Gaia noted how fast he left.

"So is speed common, or is that special?"

"Common. We all have extra speed and strength to spare. You know I can see the future, but it's restricted. I can only see what might be and that's only if a person doesn't change their mind."

"So it depends on the choices and decisions people make."

"Exactly."

"So what are the other unique abilities?" Alice hesitated.

"I can tell you mine freely, but I think we should have the others here before I tell you theirs." A whispering sound came from behind her. Alice turned as the others came into the room.

"We're all here except Esme. Apparently, she sensed something strange in town and went to check it out." The vampires looked somewhat worried. Gaia glanced from face to face as if she was trying to puzzle something out, but shook her head and decided to push on with her questions.

"So is anyone here willing to tell me what their abilities are?" Rosalie turned to Alice. The light was dim and Gaia couldn't see well, but Bella knew Rosalie well enough to know she was furious. 'By her tone of voice, Gaia would have to be thick to not be able to tell her anger.'

"Alice, you _told_ her about us?!" Her voice dripped acid and menace, but Alice remained calm and sedate.

"No Rosalie. She figured it out herself from her interaction with Edward yesterday. Danger usually stems from ignorance, so if she understands us a little better, she might not pose such a threat, and if we understand her, we might not have to be so ridiculously worried." Rosalie huffed, but stood in silence. Alice returned her attention to the room at large.

"All right, so is anyone willing to tell her their special ability?" Edward nodded.

"Alice can see the future. I can read minds." Gaia looked at him incredulously, but Edward continued.

"There have only been two exceptions before and both of them are in this garage. I can't read Bella's here at all." He put an arm around her to make their relationship clear. "I can read yours, but not particularly well. Like I told them, it's like a badly tuned radio that gets clearer the closer I am to you." Gaia may not have felt fear, but her basic consciousness told her to move away from him. His ability made her terribly uncomfortable.

"So you knew what I was thinking this whole time?" There was a tone of steel in her voice. Edward shook his head.

"Only bits and pieces." Gaia didn't hesitate for a second.

"Use your ability on people who don't know about it. It makes me angry."

"I promise not to use it on you." Edward swore. Suddenly, she could feel her anger dissipating. As though he was shining a beacon, she whipped her head toward Jasper, who cleared his throat.

"I believe that leads us to my…ah…talent. I sense and to some extent can control emotions." Gaia froze. He moved so close to her that she could feel the cold radiating off him. He put his lips close to her ear.

"I think we should talk later." He said quietly. Gaia bowed her head. She could hear him move away in a rustle of clothes. Without raising her head, she spoke with force.

"So you said two of you don't have unique abilities. Who are they and what's the last ability you've got?" Alice spoke this time.

"Rosalie and Carlisle here don't seem to have anything beyond normal vampires. Though, Rosalie is, as you can see, remarkably beautiful." Bella's jaw nearly dropped as she watched Gaia glance over at Rosalie with the swiftest of glances. 'It's as though she wasn't in the least bit jealous, but instead completely and entirely didn't care.' Alice was still speaking "…and Carlisle is an astoundingly good doctor. He should be…he's spent, well, more than decades studying." Carlisle moved smoothly across the room.

"I'd like to take a look at that hand though." Gaia sighed and extended it forward. She was no longer wearing the stabilizing gauze and the bones seemed to have reset well in their sockets. Carlisle felt her hand, testing the bones and the tissues in the back of her hand and all down the wrist. Finally he sat back

"You broke this earlier today?" Gaia nodded, feeling as though she was back in the doctor's office-though she hadn't been there in years. Bella noted how critically Gaia was looking at them. 'Not fearfully, but like she's plotting and turning things over in her mind rapid-fire.' She looked to Edward before remembering his promise not to read her anymore. Carlisle looked at her hand with wonder.

"Can you heal abnormally fast?" Gaia shook her head.

"Nope. Field surgery." Bella was still looking at Edward and saw him raise his eyebrows as if something had clicked for him.

"Ah." Carlisle dropped her hand and moved back.

"Since Esme isn't here, we shouldn't speak for her" said Emmett firmly. Everyone nodded in agreement. Bella found herself agreeing fully with Emmett. 'After all,' she thought 'Esme's gift really is wonderful in itself.' She watched as Gaia looked around at them all.

"So speed, strength, pale, ice cold, beauty, and a few extras. Is there anything I'm missing?" They all stared at Gaia in wonder. She said it so bluntly, so matter-of-factly that she might have been commenting on the color of dirt, not like she'd just found out about the unique abilities of a group of vampires. Bella swung her gaze to Edward. He wasn't trying to read Gaia, but his face still betrayed a trace of confusion. It wasn't until she looked behind him to Jasper that she grew a little fearful. Jasper was looking at Gaia as though he'd never seen anything so remarkable. There was something else in his face. 'What is that?' Bella wondered. 'He's astounded, but he's…scared. She scared him with what she said?!' Jasper looked at her and she realized that her alarm at his fear would've registered to him. She felt the atmosphere in the room become calmer and more sedate, but she couldn't make herself forget the incredulous and frightened look on his face. Emmett spoke again.

"No, there's nothing you're missing. But I think it'd be best for a few of us to go find Esme." There was a general consensus again and Bella watched as Emmett, Rosalie, Alice and Carlisle melted out of the room. With just three of them left in the garage, Bella felt herself shiver a little. It was early in the morning and the garage was cold. It had been worse with all the vampires in there, but the conversation had been so interesting, she hadn't noticed in the least. Now, even in her sweatshirt, she could feel the bite at her skin. Edward noticed her slight shiver and suggested they move into the house. While they were settling in the living room, Gaia looked around her in amazement.

"You expected vampires to live in large old castles with gargoyles and coffins around every corner?" Edward laughed. Gaia looked back at him coolly.

"Well…I didn't know what to expect, so yes. But I'm glad to see that you haven't decided to add cobwebs to the décor. And I think the coffins would've been a little over the top." Jasper smirked.

"You should see it around Halloween. It's a bit closer then, although both add quite a bit to the décor." Bella was surprised to see the serious girl in front of her crack a smile.

"Right. So you do have skeletons in a closet somewhere." Both Jasper and Edward smiled weakly. Bella did too, though she had a better idea how many secrets this family had-it was quite a lot. Gaia had only begun to scratch the surface. Edward still smiled through his speech, but Bella thought she could hear a note of exasperation in his voice as he spoke.

"No more than you." Jasper turned to Edward and Bella.

"On that note, I would like to speak with Gaia privately. No mind reading, ok?" Edward nodded and Bella felt his hand on the small of her back only for a moment before they found themselves in the kitchen. When they left the room, Jasper turned to Gaia, keeping his distance so he wouldn't smell her as strongly, but he pierced her with a look that would have made her uncomfortable if she'd been any kind of girl to be shifted by such things. There was a long, long silence before he spoke.

"So Gaia, you move fast enough to catch up with werewolves, you have exceptional vision, you caught a vampire in your home, you managed to hurt said vampire, you know field surgery, you can read in at least 3 languages-though I'm betting there's more in your arsenal, you clearly have a past you're not showing, you can fight, and all this is wrapped up in a model's body. I can accept this." Several times during this list, she'd opened her mouth to speak, but hadn't managed to get anything out. But now Jasper leaned in slightly and looked at her with the most bewildered, awed and fearful expression he'd had on all evening. Gaia was staring back at him defiantly, but as though she knew exactly what was coming. Jasper took a deep breath.

"I can accept this. But explain to me how you never experience fear."


	8. Chapter 8

Ugh

Ugh. One wonders why I'd write these if I have NO OWNERSHIP! Moving on.

A soft, clear female voice penetrated the blackness behind her eyes as Gaia fought her way back to consciousness.

"…very tired even now. Look at the circles under her eyes." A deep voice she recognized echoed back from a lifetime away.

"Bella…"

_Bella? That's not my name. What the heck is going on here? _Time lapsed behind her eyes and in a moment, she heard the deep voice again.

"Well, that's all we gathered to explain. Would you like to go home now?" _Wait, explain what? I missed something here. What the hell's going on? But my body is taking forever to react. Something's wrong, they never come back at separate times. Shit, shit shit! _

"I know nothing is being helped by my being here, but somehow, I prefer it to going home." The soft female voice spoke again.

"All right, let's go in." Gaia found a small indication of her voice and felt a low groan emanate from the pit of her stomach. There was a soft rustle and Gaia had to guess that more people had come in or gone because the soft voice asked

"Should I stay?"

"I think you better. I have a feeling we're all going to be laying our cards on the table soon."

It was at this moment Gaia found that her body was finally responding to her. _It's about freaking time. I've been sitting here waiting on it. It can't be responsive to my mind like all the other times, noooo, that'd be too easy. And why do I have to completely collapse after a stupid little fight like that anyway? _She opened her eyes quickly, but on finding they hurt, rubbed her eyelids with her palms and sat up muttering to herself.

"Damnit, I'm so sick of this crap…one little surge and wham…" only to find herself being irresistibly pushed back down.

"Careful, you've been out for a while." She tried to focus on the man in front of her, but the light from the house coming from behind him silhouetted his face and made it impossible to see his features. She shook her head.

"It's nothing new." She felt the weight of his hand vanish and sat up again. _Thank god for that. Felt like I was being pushed by a gentle elephant. No way would I've managed against that. _She looked around her. The seat under was soft, smooth and supple. It was a car-and a luxury one at that. Everyone in front of her was hard to see, but she could vaguely make out their features in the dim light. Every one of them was extremely beautiful. In one corner, she recognized the boy she'd caught in her house just that morning.

"How did I end up here?" _It was nice of them to bring me here, but if they're all as strong and dangerous as that guy in the corner, I would've been safer in a ditch. _She waited, but instead of hearing about the fight and why they had brought her here, the girl who looked like a pixie and the one who must've been Bella launched into similar stories about dreams they'd both had involving her. At first, she didn't listen too carefully. _A couple of whacked out girls having dreams that some other girl is going to come into town and blow their lives out of the water. Uh, yeah. Whatever. _As Alice and Bella talked though, she became more and more aware of what they were saying. Edward leaving Bella, an unmarked van with all the family and the werewolves inside…_An unmarked van. Just like the crap Oliver used to pull on me, except minus the limo. Games. But with individuals as strong as these vampires, that shouldn't be a problem. Unless…what if Loki does track me? If he has a new weapon, something big, this could pose a serious problem. And these two are so convinced that they're in danger. But by a pair of dreams? Odd coincidence maybe, but deadly warning? There's something more to this. _Alice and Bella had finished speaking. _Dreams. If they're true then that means everyone in this room thinks I'm a danger to them-what I tried telling so many people for so long, these two knew before they'd even met me. Danger and destruction follows me, so many have died, and some have had their former innocent lives ripped away from them. _She immediately thought of Sam and how her influence had meant he'd gone from a promising medical student to a bartender at a restaurant somewhere in Manhattan. _All because they didn't know how dangerous it would be to be near me. _Emotion choked her throat-not in sorrow for the past, but indescribable fury that she'd been unable to help them, or at least get the hell out of their lives before they were wrecked.

"So…by me coming here…you think you're in danger? And that's why you followed me?"

"That's the basic gist of it." _They knew I was dangerous. They tailed me and they watched what happened. GODDAMNIT, WHY COULDN'T THIS HAVE HAPPENED EARLIER TO PEOPLE I CARED SO MUCH ABOUT?! _She ranted and raved in her head like a madwoman. Gradually, she felt herself becoming calmer and saner. _There's no point in losing my head about this. This is what I was trying to prevent with Dr. Lehman and I know there was nothing I could do at the time. Even as weird as I am, there are still many things an over-muscled, fast, intelligent and fearless teenager still can't do. Like stop her madman of an uncle. But even so, I'm not buying that they were suspicious of me based just on dreams. That's too crazy. _

"All right, I can understand that. But why would you do all this based on two dreams?" She watched calmly as Edward spoke up.

"I was going to talk with you in the morning about this, and technically, it is morning-albeit early. But I asked you before-do you know what we are?" She looked at them all, remembering all their strange qualities and her memory flashed back to the old stories of Dracula, Nosferatu and the bizarre tales of human-esque creatures who weren't quite living, but drank the blood of humans. There were too many to be entirely fictional. _Though it still sounds completely nuts-even in my own head._

"It'll sound crazy, but if I'm right, it'll still make sense." She paused a moment to solidify her belief that what she was about to say wasn't completely off-the-wall cuckoo.

"You're Vampires."

The silence following her statement was palpable, but after a time, Alice spoke and revealed the truth of what Gaia had guessed. _Figures, I escape a madman who thinks I should be his daughter, get kidnapped loads of times, make it through the FBI program, track down killers and what do I find? Vampires. What the hell is the deal with my Life?!_ She tuned back in to hear Alice explaining about their diets-how they were "vegetarian vampires" When they called the other vampires in, Gaia decided she didn't like Rosalie much-far too full of herself. _Being a vampire, I guess she can be. _Gaia had guessed Alice's ability, but Edward's took her aback. _A mind reader. God, I can't imagine how much Kim would pay to meet this guy. But oh, shit! _She moved away from him slightly.

"So you knew what I was thinking this whole time?" Fear didn't work for her, but privacy was something she valued highly. To have it stripped away…

"Only bits and pieces." Edward replied. Gaia was relieved, but still didn't want him knowing those bits and pieces. That was far too much information given away as it was.

"Use your ability on people who don't know about it. It makes me angry." She suddenly felt her anger dissipate. As she felt it go, she focused in on the corner. This wasn't natural. A male voice piped up from the shadowed figure she was looking toward.

"I believe that leads us to my…ah…talent. I sense and to some extent can control emotions." He moved into the light and Gaia could see he was a blonde-shorter than most of his siblings, but with an air of determination and frustration none of the rest had. _Oh, shit. He can read WHAT?! _She fought against leaning away from him as he bent and whispered in her ear.

"I think we should talk later." Her head bowed. The moment she'd heard what he could do, she knew the gig was up. _But the rest of them may not know. So I don't think it's out in the open just yet. _

She found that Rosalie-the pretty one-didn't really have any special abilities, but Carlisle was an exceptional doctor. He examined her hand before everyone decided to split. With just a few of them in the garage, Bella started shivering. _It is like a fridge in here. But how on earth did a human like Bella end up with this group? I know Edward can't read her mind, but is that enough to merit being part of this group? To be an exception? A freak? Jeez, it sounds exactly like the FBI. Big group of freaks. But whether or not they're good…well, we'll see. _Since Bella was cold, they all decided to move into the house.

When they got inside, Gaia was surprised to find the house spacious, well-lit and very comfortable. It made her feel easy enough to relax and joke with Jasper about the decoration. After a little of that, he asked that Edward and Bella leave the room and asked Edward not to read his mind. _Thank god there is some level of privacy. Though, he can probably sense my relief right now. Gotta watch that. _Jasper turned to her and spoke in a low voice.

"So Gaia, you move fast enough to catch up with werewolves, you have exceptional vision, you caught a vampire in your home, you managed to hurt said vampire, you know field surgery, you can read in at least 3 languages-though I'm betting there's more in your arsenal, you clearly have a past you're not showing, you can fight, and all this is wrapped up in a model's body. I can accept this." She stared back at him, no longer pretending to fight anything he'd said. She knew what was coming, but knew she couldn't prevent him from saying it.

"But explain to me how you never experience fear." Gaia sat still for a long time, trying to puzzle out what to say to him. Finally, she spoke.

"Jasper-isn't it?" He nodded. "All right, you really should know the full truth since you already know part of it. I was born lacking the gene that would cause me to feel fear. I spent a long time trying to figure out how to feel it, but when I got the chance, it made my life worse. Happy now?" Jasper looked at her puzzled.

"You didn't like sharing that with me. It was very hard for you. Why?" Gaia snorted derisively.

"Come on Jasper, use your brain. If everyone had your ability and could see I didn't have fear, think how many insane tests they would run on me, how prized my blood would be, what a wreck my life would become. Cause I gotta tell you, thanks to this freak accident of my genetics, it hasn't exactly been a cakewalk." He nodded.

"I can tell." She furrowed her brows at him.

"How? Reading my emotions won't tell you everything." Jasper took a long breath.

"Look, we didn't tell you everything about last night." Gaia nodded. "You never did explain to me what happened after the fight and how I ended up here." Jasper looked embarrassed as he explained.

"Well, after you met up with Edward, he came back and told us about you. You may have broken your hand on his face, but you shouldn't have been able to hurt him at all. That doesn't happen when a human confronts a vampire. Besides Alice and Bella's dreams, we thought it would be in our best interest to keep an eye on you. So we followed you to Seattle." Gaia watched him quietly, but rage was bubbling up in the pit of her stomach. Jasper could feel it and sent out calm throughout the room, but that still didn't interfere with her thoughts.

_Fuck. It's not like they're strong enough, fast enough or good-looking enough. They had to put a tail on me. And shit! I didn't even notice! _Jasper continued his narrative.

"We followed you and watched you for the evening. Between me reading your emotions and the snippets that Edward got from your thoughts, we understood your past to be far less than normal. But Gaia…" He struggled as he fought to keep her anger down. "We don't know the story of your past-not what actually happened; we just got the general sense that a lot more than what's normal has happened to you. Ok?" He felt her relax a little and pressed on.

"When you turned that corner, we saw the rapists-they were rapists, make no mistake, but before we could do anything, you attacked them and we saw what you would've done to Edward if he'd been human and in your house. When the last one pointed the gun at you, we were too far away to have done anything, no matter how fast we may be. And when you dropped, you can't even imagine how furious we were to fail at protecting you like that. But we were wrong. Neither I nor Edward could believe it when the bullet missed you and hit the thug behind you instead, or when you took the gun from the guy, or when you pointed it at him and told him to run, or when you emptied the clip into the wall behind him and made only one entrance hole…But when we tailed you to your car, you put your head against the wheel and stopped moving, we didn't know what to think. So, after some deliberation, Edward took you in the car and brought you here." Gaia was silent, letting her thoughts whirl around her head. The first and foremost was; _Huh, guess that damn tendency of mine to pass out has some good effects after all. But how dare they interfere like this? It's so wrong; I can take care of myself! _Another thought occurred to her and she focused in on him.

"Where's my car now? It's a rental," but Jasper was waving his hands.

"Don't worry; it's back at your place now. Gaia, what do you do for a living?" She fixed him with a steely glare.

"What makes you think that's any of your business?" Jasper tightened his lip.

"Gaia, you do code-breaking, you know field surgery, you speak at least 3 languages and there's something in your recent past about serial killers. If you have anything that will influence the future of this family, we need to know about it." She glared at him a bit longer before speaking.

"Look, I might've had a lot of crap happen in my past, but that doesn't mean it's going to affect you all."

"No, perhaps not, but if someone comes here hunting for you and finds out about us, we might have a problem on our hands, especially if Alice and Bella's dreams are true and it's actually a threat to us here, or to any of the humans in town." _All right, concern for your family, I can understand that. And I suppose if I really didn't want them to know anything, I wouldn't have told him why I have no fear. If they turn on me though, I'm going to have to do everything in my power to get out of here. But with my connections, even against vampires, I should be safe. _Again, she decided to throw caution to the wind.

"I'm an FBI agent. But I think the real concern for you shouldn't be either this or foreign governments, but my uncle."

"Your uncle?"

"Fucking psycho maniac. He'll stop at nothing to get a hold of me or my blood. If he finds out about you or the werewolves, he'll stop at nothing to possess you either." Jasper smirked a little.

"I think we can handle our own against one human." Gaia shook her head.

"Not one. Legions of well-paid, bloodthirsty sickos." Jasper looked at her oddly.

"You really think he'll be that much of a threat to us? With that, he strode across the room, picked up a china vase and crushed the entire thing to powder.

"Esme didn't like that vase much anyway." He remarked casually. Gaia smiled.

"Maybe not, but you'd be the first he didn't affect." She yawned widely.

"I think I'd best be getting back to my place. Is there anything else you want with me tonight?" Jasper shook his head.

"I'll drive you back." With that, he moved-or was it glided-to the front door and held it open for her. Gaia moved through it and waited for him. He led her to the garage, and told her to wait outside. As he moved the sleek car out, Gaia's eyebrows shot to her hairline again. She'd known she was in a luxury car before. She had no idea that it was such a rare and expensive one though. As the door opened and she slid in, even she couldn't help noting the smooth leather seats, roomy interior or the powerful thrum of the engine. As it sped off, Jasper opened the window, pushed his face out and remarked casually, "Sorry, I forgot about your sleep schedule." Gaia smiled.

"What, don't vampires sleep?" When he turned serious eyes on her, she knew it was true.

"Really? You don't? Weird. I would've killed for that in training." Jasper smiled.

"Would you like to know more about us?" Gaia nodded.

"You guys are really interesting. Besides, for all the snooping you did, you owe me." Jasper inclined his head a little and began talking. He described their sleeping habits, their inability to feel most pain, their speed, strength, family history, diet, abilities…absolutely everything about vampires. When he reached a tale about the Volturi, Gaia stopped him.

"You mean there are more of you?"

"Oh, yes. Not loads anymore, but a good number. The Volturi are our sort of ruling class. They're among the oldest living now and are in Italy." Gaia was quiet. _A ruling class of vampire._ _If that isn't dangerous and potential trouble in a nutshell, I don't know what is. _By the time she'd finished musing to herself about the possible implications about this, the car had rolled up to her door. She let herself out and went around to the drivers side.

"Thanks for the ride Jasper. Think you're going to continue tailing me or should I not expect a truthful answer about that?" Jasper gave her a wry smile.

"You know, I don't know right now. We'll be in touch though."

"Ok, good. And tell the next vamp that needs information to ring the doorbell." She smiled, Jasper nodded and Gaia vanished into the dark house. As she brushed her teeth, the days events hit her like a brick. _I went to Seattle, nearly got raped, was brought back by a family of vampires in fear for their skin and am now something like friends with them. This is a little too weird right now. _She managed to sling off her sweatshirt before flopping on her bed and resigning herself to getting some sleep.

When Jasper got back, the whole family-except Esme-was waiting for him. Slowly, he recounted his interview with Gaia. Though he'd left the room, Edward admitted to having posted Alice at the door to make sure Jasper didn't lose control with Gaia.

"We understand the smell is hard. Gaia doesn't smell terribly unusual, but every human, especially so close, is a test." Edward was just turning to Bella to say he would take her home now since it'd been no longer a night for her than it had been for Gaia when Esme appeared in the room. Her brown hair was a mess and she had a wide-eyed look of fear in her eyes.

"The dream has happened and we've got an enormous problem now."


End file.
